regex lastname o'neal or mc clury or doe

meriwether · Oct 8, 2003

trying to get my regex js to validate a last name field on a form.

/^[a-zA-Z\s]+$/;

this allows me to enter a alpha name (doe), or a alpha space alpha name (mc clury). i need to add ' for names such as o'neal but can't seem to get it.

any clues? i've tried:

/^[a-zA-Z\s']+$/;

but this allows only a ' as valid! ugh.

any help appreciated. thx.

dwarfthrower · Oct 8, 2003

/^[a-zA-Z\s\x27]+$/;

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clarkin · Oct 8, 2003

you may want to allow a - for double barrel names.

Posting code? Wrap it with code tags: [ignore]

Code:

[/ignore][code]CodeHere

[ignore][/code][/ignore].

meriwether · Oct 9, 2003

dwarfthrower,

/^[a-zA-Z\s\x27]+$/;

still allows only a ' as a valid entry.

going to try a combo of expressions, like any alpha w/ a ' or space, any alpha, or any alpha, or any alpha space alpha. if i get it right, i'll post it. thx tho for the attempt.

i take it the x27 replaces the '
is there a list showing these replacements? that would be handy.

thnx

meriwether · Oct 9, 2003

ok,
this *seems* to be working.

allows:
mc clury
clury
o'neal
but not
123
'
" " (space).

/^(([a-zA-Z\s])|([a-zA-Z]x27[a-zA-Z]+$))/

meriwether · Oct 9, 2003

my bad,
it also accepts:
asdf123asdf

well, i'll keep working on it. any help always appreciated.

meriwether · Oct 9, 2003

/^(([a-zA-Z\s]+$)|([a-zA-Z\s]+('|-)+[a-zA-Z\s]+$))/

going w/ this, appears to work. allows:

alpha-alpha
alpha alpha
alpha
alpha 'alpha
alpha' alpha
alpha alp'ha (and similar)
alph'a alpha (and similar)
" "alpha (space alpha) < maybe better not to allow..but...

will not allow:
'
" " (space)
'alpha
any numeric value

i *think* good for a firstname or lastname validation.

clarkin · Oct 9, 2003

First off here's a very good reference for JScript reg exps:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...js56reconIntroductionToRegularExpressions.asp

(see syntax page for list of characters and what they do)

Second, I think DT's reg exp is a bit better - perhaps it wasn't working for you because of how you tested with it? Have a try of this in a new .html file:

Code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC &quot;-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN&quot; &quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd&quot;>[/URL]
<html>
<head>
<title>test bed</title>
<script language=&quot;Javascript&quot;>
//var regex = /^(([a-zA-Z\s]+$)|([a-zA-Z\s]+('|-)+[a-zA-Z\s]+$))/;
var regex = /^[a-zA-Z\s'\-]+$/;
function checkIt() {
	var textfld = document.getElementById(&quot;strID&quot;)
	var strCheck = textfld.value;
	var tested = regex.test(strCheck);
	
	alert(tested + &quot; for [&quot; + strCheck + &quot;]&quot;);
	textfld.focus();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<p>
regexp check:<br>
<input name=&quot;strCheck&quot; id=&quot;strID&quot; size=&quot;20&quot;> 
<input type=&quot;button&quot; name=&quot;Check&quot; value=&quot;Check&quot; onclick=&quot;checkIt();&quot;>
</p>
</form>
</body>
</html>

One example of your reg exp not working would be something like: Jo-Anne Smith-Bensson or the like. The pattern of the reg exp i'm using above is:
[tt]^[a-zA-Z\s'\-]+$[/tt]

[tt]^ $[/tt]: start-of-string and end-of-string
[tt] [ ] [/tt]: match any ONE character inside these
[tt] + [/tt]: change previous [] to match one or more
[tt] a-zA-Z\s'\- [/tt]: an upper or lowercase letter, space, apostrophe, or hyphen

Hope that clears up a few things for you

Posting code? Wrap it with code tags: [ignore]

Code:

[/ignore][code]CodeHere

[ignore][/code][/ignore].

jemminger · Oct 10, 2003

eh, this works fine for me in IE6, winNT

<script type="text/javascript">
function isValid(s) {
return /^[a-z'\s]+$/i.test(s);
}
</script>

returns true for
Smith
Mc Smith
Mc'Smith
Mc'Smith's Mc'Smithy

returns false for
Smith7
Mc-Smith

=========================================================
-jeff

http://www.jeffemminger.com

try { succeed(); } catch(E) { tryAgain(); }

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regex lastname o'neal or mc clury or doe

meriwether

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dwarfthrower

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clarkin

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meriwether

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meriwether

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meriwether

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clarkin

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jemminger

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