php preg_match url regex not working

Question

I can't get this function working correctly:

function isValidURL($url){
 return preg_match('%http://domain\.com/([A-Za-z0-9.-_]+)/([A-Za-z0-9.-_]+)%', $url);
}

The url:

http://domain.com/anything-12/anything-12/

can contain numbers, letters and symbols _ -

I assume its to do with the first regex - as these work

    http://domain.com/anything12/anything12/

    http://domain.com/anything12/anything-12/

    http://domain.com/anything12/any-thing-12/

    http://domain.com/anything_12/any-thing-12/

As always all help is appreciated and thanks in advance.

If you want to validate a url why not use filter_var ($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) instead of a regex? Or parse_url(). Just curious. — Yzmir Ramirez
– Yzmir Ramirez, Commented Nov 15, 2011 at 6:40

codaddict · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-15 06:28:57Z

5

You need to escape the - in the character class of your regex.
You need to anchor your regex so that tries to match the entire input string and not part of it.

The modified regex is:

'%^http://domain\.com/([A-Za-z0-9.\-_]+)/([A-Za-z0-9.\-_]+)/$%'

You can shorten your regex by noting that [A-Za-z0-9_] is same as \w and also there is a repeating sub-regex.

'%^http://domain\.com(/[\w.-]+){2}/$%'

edited Nov 15, 2011 at 6:28

answered Nov 15, 2011 at 6:02

codaddict

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2 Comments

Narendra Yadala Over a year ago

I think it has to be (/[\w.-]+){2} because OP seems to need both the sub-expressions.

Dizzi Over a year ago

Hmmm it dosen't seem to be working in Google chrome or Safari ...any ideas? (works fine in FF and IE)

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