Deprecated: Function ereg() is deprecated [duplicate] - php

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Closed 10 years ago.
Possible Duplicate:
How can I convert ereg expressions to preg in PHP?
My contact form is othervise working but I keep getting the following
error:
Deprecated: Function ereg() is deprecated in/home/.....
I'm really lost here but I figure this is the part that needs some adjusting.
if ( empty($_REQUEST['name']) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $emptyname;
} elseif ( ereg( "[][{}()*+?.\\^$|]", $_REQUEST['name'] ) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $alertname;
}
if ( empty($_REQUEST['email']) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $emptyemail;
} elseif ( !eregi("^[_a-z0-9-]+(.[_a-z0-9-]+)*#[a-z0-9-]+(.[a-z0-9-]+)*(.[a-z] {2,3})$", $_REQUEST['email']) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $alertemail;
}
if ( empty($_REQUEST['message']) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $emptymessage;
} elseif ( preg_match( "[][{}()*+?\\^$|]", $_REQUEST['message'] ) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $alertmessage;
}
Finding a solution would be highly appreciated

Answer 1

You must use preg_match instead of ereg because the last one is deprecated.
Replacing it is not a big deal:
ereg( "[][{}()*+?.\\^$|]", $_REQUEST['name'] )
will become:
preg_match( "/[][{}()*+?.\\^$|]/", $_REQUEST['name'] )
p.s. I had to modify more than one hundred files while I was porting my old project to PHP 5.3 to avoid manually modifying I've used following script to do it for me:
function replaceEregWithPregMatch($path) {
$content = file_get_contents($path);
$content = preg_replace('/ereg\(("|\')(.+)(\"|\'),/',
"preg_match('/$2/',",
$content);
file_put_contents($path, $content);
}
I hope it helps.

Answer 2

The function ereg() is deprecated and should not be used any more. The documentation tells you what to do (to use preg_match instead).

Answer 3

Like you said - no bigie, it works like a charm:
if ( empty($_REQUEST['name']) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $emptyname;
} elseif ( preg_match( "/[][{}()*+?.\\^$|]/", $_REQUEST['name'] ) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $alertname;
}
if ( empty($_REQUEST['email']) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $emptyemail;
} elseif ( !preg_match("#^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*#[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$#i", $_REQUEST['email']) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $alertemail;
}
if ( empty($_REQUEST['message']) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $emptymessage;
} elseif ( preg_match( "/[][{}()*+?\\^$|]/", $_REQUEST['message'] ) ) {
$pass = 1;
$alert .= $alertmessage;
}
Thank you guys