PHP Validation Using An Regex Array

Question

I am working on creating an array of regular expressions based on form values and using a function that fails on the wrong user input. Every time I run the website I receive the following error:

Warning: eregi() [function.eregi]: REG_EMPTY

I do not know what is wrong. Please take a look at my code and help. Thank you!

$error_log = array();
// Checks if user inputed data matches the default values
$arr = array( 
        'name' => 'First Name Last Name', 
        'month' => 'MM', 
        'day' => 'DD',
        'year' => 'YYYY',
        'address1' =>'Address Line 1',
        'address2' => 'Address Line 2',
        'email' => '[email protected]'
        );

$regex = array(
        'name' => "^[a-z .'-]+$", 
        'month' => "^((0[1-9])|(1[0-2]))$ ", 
        'day' => "0?[1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|3[0-1]", 
        'year' => "^(19|20)\d{2}$",
        'address1' => "/^[a-zA-Z0-9 ]*$/",
        'address2' => "/^[a-zA-Z0-9 ]*$/",
        'email' => "^[A-Z0-9._%-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$"
        );
/*
Runs validation on the form values and stops procesing if the form does not have the correct values
*/
function regexValidate( $form_value, $regex, $key){
    if(!eregi($regex[$key],$form_value) ){
        return true;    
    }
    return false;
}

Answer 1

I have a slightly different approach. I have an array such as this - which I ultimatley pass to Smarty to build my for - but upon submission, this array is passed witht he form $_POST into a function that loops round and does the necessary validation (based on the 2nd parameter here);

$arrFields = array(
                'stage1' => array(
                    'accountname'           =>  array('Account Name','text','text','stage1',true),
                    'presharedaccountkey'   =>  array('Pre-shared Key','text','text','stage1',true),
                    'ipwhitelist'           =>  array('IP White-list','text','text','stage1',false),
                    'accountid'             =>  array('Customer ID','text','readonly','stage1',false),
                    'product'               =>  array('Product','text','select','stage1',false,$platformProducts),
                    'dtcreated'             =>  array('Created on','text','text','stage1',false),
                    'createdby'             =>  array('Created By','text','text','stage1',false),
                    'mode'                  =>  array('Mode','text','radio','stage1',true,$platformModes)
                )
            );

i do some custom stuff but basically to loop it'd be:

function validateFormPost($arrFields,$postfields)
{
    $err = array();
    //validate required fields
    foreach($arrFields as $stagekey => $stageval)
    {
        foreach($stageval as $key => $val)
        {
            // your validation based on field type
            // i.e. in here would be regex to deal with std type or indeed you could add it as a parameter to the $arrFields construct.


            // allow comma or spaced emails but replace with semi colon
    if($val[1]=='email')
                {
                    $postfields[$key] = str_replace(",",";",trim($postfields[$key]));
                    $postfields[$key] = str_replace(" ",";",trim($postfields[$key]));
                }
                // basic check required fileds are completed
                if($val[4]==true && !array_key_exists($key,$postfields))
                {
                    $err[$stagekey][$key] = array($val[0],'This is a required field');
                }
                elseif(array_key_exists($key,$postfields) && $this->validateField($postfields[$key],$val[1],$val[4])==false)
                {
                    $err[$stagekey][$key] = array($val[0],'Invalid '.$val[1].' value.');
                //check values for basic field length
                }
                elseif(strlen($postfields[$key])>$feildcolset[$key][0] && $feildcolset[$key][0]!=null)
                {
                    $err[$stagekey][$key] = array($val[0],'Field max '.$feildcolset[$key][0].' characters.');
                }

        }
    }
}

HTH - i can expand on it if needed :)