Hope u all had a grt day?
for me, i've been battling this code below all day.
pls i need help on how to verify data from my HTML form


the problem i have with the code below is that it keeps giving me
the error message when the field (which is not required) is empty.
pls a messiah should come to my aid.

<?php
// TO CHECK THE DATA COMING IN
$pattern = '([[:digit:]]|[~`!@$%&()_ =+|\:;"/?,]|[|]|-)+';
$name = stripslashes($_POST['ady2']);
if (ereg($pattern,$_POST['ady2']))
{?><SCRIPT language=javascript>

alert("Characters such as > * # \" Are NOT Accaptable.";
history.back();
</script>
<?php
exit(); }

?>

Apparently, there is something in your regex, otherwise you wouldn't be getting this error. I would do an alert of the value of the (assuming) text field and go from there. Perhaps you should apply trim() to the $name field first b4 stripslashes(), to remove any trailing spaces?

In general, I don't like mixing javascript with code, at least the way you are doing it. I would clean this up by doing a regex check on the javascript side, moving that code into a .js file, then of course having the php code do a 2ble-check in case the user has javascript turned off. The way you have it here, the implication is that you will have "<script>" tags printed out for each form field you have. If this is the case, not good.

Try what I have suggested in the first paragraph above and let us know if that works or not.

Thanks,

thank you
your post was more than helpful
the problem was locked around the regex and the $name
got it sorted.
thank u 4 d javascript comment too.

it's been a long, long, time since i held 2 pieces of code with a pair of tweezers in one hand and a magnifiying glass in the other (my2cents, you also did javascript? what DIDN'T YOU DO!!?)

@ poster: if you're using Dreamweaver, then all that is a snap. there's and extensive dreamweaver extension that does just that: form validation. with custom messages. it's here:

http://www.yaromat.com/dw/?ex=Check%20Form%20MX

_{(remembers the good OLD Days of coding in ASP, then shrugs from the nightmares)}