Validating forms with regex in codeigniter - php

Question

How can I validate a form using regex in codeiginiter. I'd like to check the input against:
^([0-1][0-9]|[2][0-3]):([0-5][0-9])$
I'm assuming the best way is in some sort of callback. I tried a bunch of ideas on the web but I can't seem to get any working.

Answer 1

Old post but you can add the regex directly in the input validation rule
$this->form_validation->set_rules()
Add to function above: regex_match[your regex]

Answer 2

You can create a function like this:
function validateRegex($input)
{
if (preg_match('/^([0-1][0-9]|[2][0-3]):([0-5][0-9])$/', $input))
{
return true; // it matched, return true or false if you want opposite
}
else
{
return false;
}
}
In your controller, you can use it like:
if ($this->validateRegex($this->input->post('some_data')))
{
// true, proceed with rest of the code.....
}

Answer 3

How about using AJAX?
$("form").submit(function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
$.post("<?php echo base_url(); ?>regex_check", { username: $("#username").val() }, function (data) {
alert(data);
});
The regex_check function would have a typical regex check in it, like
function regex_check(){
$this->get->post('username');
if(eregi('^[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+#[a-zA-Z0-9-] +\.[a-zA-Z.]{2,5}$', $username)){
return TRUE;}else{return FALSE;}
}
You would only allow successful submission of form if all data is validated.
These code snippets should help you on the track to validating the data.

Answer 4

here's a full solution submitting to account/signup
in the account controller:
function signup(){
if($_POST){
$this->form_validation->set_rules('full_name', 'Full Name', 'required|min_length[3]|max_length[100]');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('email_address', 'Email Address', 'required|valid_email');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'required|callback_check_password');
if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE){
echo validation_errors();
}
else{
// form validates, now can do stuff such as insert into database
// and show the user that they successfully signed up, i.e.,:
// $this->load->view('account/signup_success');
}
}
}
check_password callback function also in the account controller:
function check_password($p){
$p = $this->input->post('password');
if (preg_match('/(?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z]).{8}/', $p)) return true;
// it matched, see <ul> below for interpreting this regex
else{
$this->form_validation->set_message('check_password',
'<span class="error">
<ul id="passwordError">
<li> Password must be at least:</li>
<li> 8 characters</li>
<li> 1 upper, 1 lower case letter</li>
<li> 1 number</li>
</ul>
</span>');
return false;
}
}