Regex Explanation and streamlining

craig467 · 03-16-2007, 11:29 AM

Hi there,

This is similar to a previous post but I need help understanding and streamlining a bit of code. The purpose of the code below is to validate that the user enters a street address in $a using letters, numbers, single spaces and periods. I was trying to write a single matching statement in the if line but could not do it. The only solution I could come up with is what I came up with below.

Code:

if ($a !~ m/^[A-Za-z\d\.\s]+$/ || $a =~ m/\s{2,}/) {
        $error="Y";
	$msg = $msg . "<p>The Address field must contain only letters, numbers";
	$a =~ s/\s/&nbsp\;/g;	#place spaces in string if they are there-for error.
	$msg = $msg . ", single spaces and periods(.) - \"$a\" is invalid.</p>\n";
}  #end if

Is it possible to make it so that you do not have to use the or(||) statement to account for multiple spaces within the string contained by $a. I would have thought that you could have melded the 2 statements in the if line together to account for everything but I could not do it. Can someone please help if it can be done.

I want "123 Barneby Rd." to pass (no error) but I want an error to flag when there is more than one space entered like if there were 2 or 3 spaces between 123 and Barneby like:

Code:

123  Barneby Rd.
123   Barneby Rd.

ghostdog74 · 03-16-2007, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig467

Hi there,

This is similar to a previous post but I need help understanding and streamlining a bit of code. The purpose of the code below is to validate that the user enters a street address in $a using letters, numbers, single spaces and periods. I was trying to write a single matching statement in the if line but could not do it. The only solution I could come up with is what I came up with below.

Code:

if ($a !~ m/^[A-Za-z\d\.\s]+$/ || $a =~ m/\s{2,}/) {
        $error="Y";
	$msg = $msg . "<p>The Address field must contain only letters, numbers";
	$a =~ s/\s/&nbsp\;/g;	#place spaces in string if they are there-for error.
	$msg = $msg . ", single spaces and periods(.) - \"$a\" is invalid.</p>\n";
}  #end if

Is it possible to make it so that you do not have to use the or(||) statement to account for multiple spaces within the string contained by $a. I would have thought that you could have melded the 2 statements in the if line together to account for everything but I could not do it. Can someone please help if it can be done.

I want "123 Barneby Rd." to pass (no error) but I want an error to flag when there is more than one space entered like if there were 2 or 3 spaces between 123 and Barneby like:

Code:

123  Barneby Rd.
123   Barneby Rd.

I would suggest to trim those spaces to 1 space only if user enters more than 1 space, then let it pass. This is not much of a solution to your code problem, but i think this will not annoy the user much if he accidentally keys in 2 or more spaces and could not get pass (while the address actually correct). unless of course that's your strict requirement

craig467 · 03-19-2007, 07:26 AM

Thanks ghostdog74,

I agree with you but the exercise I was doing wanted me to trap that. Thanks. I am just not sure if the if statement could be shortened into 1 statement. Does anyone know if it could.

Thanks for the input ghostdog74, I agree that it would be more of an annoyance than a help but I am just trying to do what is asked for

ntubski · 03-19-2007, 01:47 PM

what about:

Code:

 if ($a !~ m/^([A-Za-z\d\.]+\s?)+$/)

craig467 · 03-22-2007, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ntubski

what about:

Code:

 if ($a !~ m/^([A-Za-z\d\.]+\s?)+$/)

That worked great. Thanks!