hi

i need to validate a field in a form where a user enters their lodgement number as part of a registration form. this lodgement number can have letters, numbers, spaces and special characters. i do not know exactly what those special characters are, so do i have to define the type of special characters and validate accordingly.

presently my php code for validating the lodgement number is

$lodgementtf  = $_POST["lodgementtf"];  

if($lodgementtf == "" || !preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z0-9_ <]+$/", $lodgementtf) )
{
echo "display error message":
}


i also have another way of validating

if($lodgementnumber == "" || !preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z0-9_ !-@£$%^&*()]+$/", $lodgementnumber) )

does this mean that the special characters can only be = a space AND _!-@£$%^&*() and no other special characters.

please advice.

thanks.

Hi,

$lodgementtf  = $_POST["lodgementtf"];  

if($lodgementtf == "" || !preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z0-9_ <]+$/", $lodgementtf) )
{
echo "display error message":
}



Above lines means ur lodgement can have alphbates a-z, A-Z numbers 0-9, underscore( _ ), and sign of less than ( < ). if any othere character is found it will give error message.

in below lines ur lodgement can have a-z, A-z, 0-9 and special character ( _ !-@£$%^&*() ),if left blank or any other character will give error message.

if($lodgementnumber == "" || !preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z0-9_ !-@£$%^&*()]+$/", $lodgementnumber) )


_________________
Thanks
Prashant