Allowing spaces in regular expression match.

[Markus]

I'm asking the question for once!

Say I have the expression @[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]@ that matches anything other than the characters specified. I also want spaces to be allows, including \n, \t, etc. I've tried adding a simple space into the expression such as @[^a-zA-Z0-9_- ]@, but that doesn't seem to work.

Anyone know how to do this? I could just match any disallowed characters, but I'd rather go this way.

Thanks,
Mark(us).

[Atli]

I don't get it.

If you are specifying the characters that are *not* allowed, the expression should allow all white-spaces.

If you want them to be excluded, try adding a \s into the expression. That represents all white-space characters.

Maybe I'm just not getting the problem.
Haven't had any coffee today :P

[Markus]

I don't get it.

If you are specifying the characters that are *not* allowed, the expression should allow all white-spaces.

No, no. I'm specifying that characters that are allowed.

If you want them to be excluded, try adding a \s into the expression. That represents all white-space characters.

Ah, there you go! Thanks, Atli.

Maybe I'm just not getting the problem.
Haven't had any coffee today :P

You solved the problem, even when you didn't understand!

:D

[Atli]

Ahh ok. I see now :)

Although, in your expression [^a-zA-Z0-9_-], I always thought the ^ char inverted the class... meaning that it represented everything but the specified chars.

That was using the Perl-compatible regex tho. Maybe your using something else?

Then again. I might still not be understanding.
(Still haven't had any coffee... trying to quit :P)

[pbmods]

I've tried adding a simple space into the expression such as @[^a-zA-Z0-9_- ]@, but that doesn't seem to work.

The hyphen has special meaning inside of square brackets, which might be what threw it off. Try moving the space before the hyphen, e.g.:

@[^a-zA-Z0-9_ -]@

Alternatively, you can simply escape the hyphen:

@[^a-zA-Z0-9_\- ]@

[Markus]

Ahh ok. I see now :)

Although, in your expression [^a-zA-Z0-9_-], I always thought the ^ char inverted the class... meaning that it represented everything but the specified chars.

That was using the Perl-compatible regex tho. Maybe your using something else?

Then again. I might still not be understanding.
(Still haven't had any coffee... trying to quit :P)

Well, yeah. The characters that are in the regex are those that are allowed. The ^ character checks for anything other than the specified characters.

[Markus]

The hyphen has special meaning inside of square brackets, which might be what threw it off. Try moving the space before the hyphen, e.g.:

@[^a-zA-Z0-9_ -]@

Alternatively, you can simply escape the hyphen:

@[^a-zA-Z0-9_\- ]@

I'll give it a look. Thanks, Pb.