Regex to validate a network path it PHP, jQuery, JavaScript, Ruby

Question

Trying to figure out a regex for validating a network path ie: \\comp\xyz or \\comp or \\comp\x\y\z\storage or something much more lengthy on all parts but the jist of it is hopefully conveyed.

What I have currently is a simple input field, that I have a user passing information through. Thing of it is I don't want them to put it in wrong as the backend connects to a client that uses it to run processes on computers across a network, so last thing I need is someone mistyping something and being the cause of something else breaking. So I figure a quick preg_match will do me just fine in confirming this from the PHP side I am currently work with but I do have a need to work this into JavaScript and a layer thats built on Ruby so I not knowing if all regex is equal or not I need one that works on all levels..

Also to save me time later in coming back I will eventually need to figure out a regex that will allow a user to do either local path ie: C:\, X:, H:\path\to\folder or a network path as mentioned prior.

I'm certain that PHP and Javascript use PCRE. I'd be surprised if Ruby doesn't as well. — Cfreak
– Cfreak, Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 20:43
As a tip I would recommend you free tool for regular expresions: Espresso — Darj
– Darj, Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 20:45
I think PCRE supports lookbehind, and JavaScript does not (???) — Code Jockey
– Code Jockey, Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 20:47
@Cfreak, What do you mean by "using PCRE"? PHP farms out its regex handling to the PCRE library, but JavaScript doesn't. If you just mean a flavor that's derived from Perl's, call it just that: Perl-derived. "PCRE" is hopelessly ambiguous. As for Ruby, yes it's another Perl-derived flavor, but its actual regex support is provided by the Oniguruma library. — Alan Moore
– Alan Moore, Commented Jun 15, 2012 at 21:31

Derek 朕會功夫 · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-16 01:52:42Z

4

\\comp\x\y\z\storage:

/^\\(\\[^\s\\]+)+(\\)?$/

H:\path\to\folder:

/^([A-Za-z]:(\\)?|[A-Za-z]:(\\[^\s\\]+)+)(\\)?$/

Both:

/^(\\(\\[^\s\\]+)+|([A-Za-z]:(\\)?|[A-z]:(\\[^\s\\]+)+))(\\)?$/

Working demo: http://jsfiddle.net/DerekL/gLfdv/

edited Jun 16, 2012 at 1:52

answered Jun 15, 2012 at 20:44

Derek 朕會功夫

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12 Comments

Code Jockey Over a year ago

matches \\\\\\\\\\comp\x\y\z\\\\\\\\storage - was this intended? (is this valid path? - I only know regex pretty well, not network paths as well, I guess)

Code Jockey Over a year ago

only one character between each slash? (for the network path)

Code Jockey Over a year ago

I was about to say it didn't match X:, but then you fixed that -- of course, unless I miss my guess, it now doesn't match `C:` - oh wait - there you go (don't forget the "both" expression, though)

Derek 朕會功夫 Over a year ago

It matches C: - /^([A-z]:(\\)?|[A-z]:(\\[^\s\\]+)+)$/.test("C:") returns true (Javascript)

Code Jockey Over a year ago

there you go! looks good enough to me (I still think mine's simpler - but the better one is for the voters and OP to decide)

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Code Jockey · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-15 20:56:56Z

1

this seems to work for me:

([A-Z]:|\\)(\\[a-z0-9]+)*

let me know if you've got any problems (undesirable or additional desired) matches

and to validate a WHOLE field, use:

^([A-Z]:|\\)(\\[a-z0-9]+)*$

EDIT a small revision was necessary to match ALL of your suggestions (my bad):

^([A-Z]:|\\)(\\$|\\[a-z0-9]+)*$

edited Jun 15, 2012 at 20:56

answered Jun 15, 2012 at 20:44

Code Jockey

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7 Comments

Derek 朕會功夫 Over a year ago

[a-z0-9] So I can't use characters other than a to z and 0 to 1? ñç?

Code Jockey Over a year ago

not unless you add them to the character class, nope - I was thinking the more important part of it was making sure the `\`'s were right, and additional characters would be easy enough to add.

Code Jockey Over a year ago

not a clue - also depends upon WHAT you want to be able to match (for instance, ^([A-Z]:|\\)(\\$|\\\w+)*$ would probably be better than any in the answer at this point, and would probably work for any "English speaking" server - not sure how representative that is in a universal sense, but the question was asked in English and all the examples were in English... so...

Derek 朕會功夫 Over a year ago

:P naïve is an English word with the 2 dots above the i.

Code Jockey Over a year ago

for SOME people, yes... but most will simply spell it with a normal i, but the real question is: is it something that many people would use in a network path or file system? Again - for the voters, OP, or anyone trying to implement this in their environment or application to determine for themselves.

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Jules · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-18 19:51:16Z

1

For the first one I have:

^\\(\\[a-zA-Z_]\w*)+$

and the second one:

^[a-zA-Z]:(\\([a-zA-Z_]\w*)*)*$

answered Jun 18, 2012 at 19:51

Jules

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user278064 · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-15 21:56:22Z

0

General case:

/^(\\\\\w+)(\\\w+)$/g   // matches \\comp, \\comp\xyz, \\comp\x\y\z\storage

Specific case:

/^([A-Z]:)(\\|\\\w+)*$/g  // matches C:\, X:, H:\path\to\folder

edited Jun 15, 2012 at 21:56

answered Jun 15, 2012 at 20:53

user278064

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1 Comment

user278064 Over a year ago

Maybe you're enclosing the regexp within quotes.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:32:11Z

0

This will match UNC paths that start with an ip address and can handle spaces in the file / folder names. Also validates standard path formats e.g. C:\Users\User\some person\file.txt

/^((\\\\[a-zA-Z0-9-\.]+\\[a-zA-Z0-9`~!@#$%^&(){}'._-]+([ ]+[a-zA-Z0-9`~!@#$%^&(){}'._-]+)*)|([a-zA-Z]:))(\\[^ \\/:*?""<>|]+([ ]+[^ \\/:*?""<>|]+)*)*\\?$/

I modified the answers from: PHP Regex for matching a UNC path

and: http://regexlib.com/REDetails.aspx?regexp_id=2285&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

See it in action at https://jsfiddle.net/megamania/q5ncy7t6/

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:32

CommunityBot

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answered Oct 20, 2016 at 11:39

megamania

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