Form input validation

[mrasla]

Hi,
I need to know how to parse a String in PHP in my form.
For example when a use enters his/her name, I want to check that the user only entered alphabetical characters.

thanks

[taylor]

Most times numbers are not part of a name. But apostrophes, spaces, dashes, periods and commas might or can be.

PHP variable names must begin with "$" so this eaxample may help:

PHP Code:

for($i=0;$i<strlen($name);$i++)
{
   if(($char[i]<'a' ||$char[i]>'z')&&($char[i]<'A' ||$char[i]>'Z'))
   {
   return FALSE;
   }
  return TRUE;
} 


With PHP you could also use a regular expression engine that would allow the above to be done without the loop.

cheers

[mehedym]

HI.

can u explain how does the code works. i am little confused

[etono]

You can use the ctype_alpha function to achieve the same results.

PHP Code:

<?php
if( ctype_alpha( $name ) ) {
    echo "$name contains only alpha characters.";
} else {
    echo "$name does not consist of only alpha characters.";
}
?>