Regex for url validation

Question

Possible Duplicate:
PHP validation/regex for URL

Hi,

in my form I have a url field. The user my input all kind of web url's. I use the following regex to validate the url:

/^(https?):\/\/(?:[A-Z0-9-]+.)+[A-Z]{2,6}([\/?].+)?$/i

But this regex handles some url's as invalid, e.g. the following

Any ideas how to improve the regex?

Have a look at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/206059/php-validation-regex-for-url — John Carter, Nov 28 '10 at 14:49
-1 for being lazy. The first answer StackOverflow suggested when entering "Regex for url validation" as question title answers your question. Please do not litter StackOverflow with duplicates. — Gordon, Nov 28 '10 at 15:59

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 28 '10 at 14:48

2

why dont use filter_var

filter_var('example.com', FILTER_VALIDATE_URL))

do not use regular expressions where is's not necessary

answered Nov 28 '10 at 14:48

Haim Evgi

what is this feature, never heard of it. I want to use regex because I am working with zend framework and I am not sure how to apply this – DarkLeafyGreen Nov 28 '10 at 14:49
http://php.net/manual/en/function.filter-var.php – sunn0 Nov 28 '10 at 14:52
1

Note that `filter_var` with `FILTER_VALIDATE_URL` has some flaws and manual validation might still be necessary (at least this is what I heard). – Felix Kling Nov 28 '10 at 14:56
This will allow invalid URLs like `http://??/` etc. – Mathias Bynens Dec 03 '10 at 13:20

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 28 '10 at 14:49

1

This problem has been solved many times before. See here, for example.

answered Nov 28 '10 at 14:49

Marcelo Cantos

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 28 '10 at 15:14

1

As for your regex, the first period needs to be escaped like this

/^(https?):\/\/(?:[A-Z0-9-]+\.)+[A-Z]{2,6}([\/?].+)?$/i

answered Nov 28 '10 at 15:14

Barry Simpson

3 Answers3