How to check if a string contains a pattern separated by whitespace?

Question

Examples:

"abc  ef    ds       ab  "

Now I would like to check if the given string consists only of the pattern [a-z] separated by whitespace. My try: ^\s*[a-z]*\s*$. But this checks only whitespace in the beginning and end, not if the whitespaces is used for separation of the content.

What do you mean by pattern seperated? It means 2 whitespace then 3 then 4 etc..? — Soner Gönül
– Soner Gönül, Commented Jan 18, 2014 at 12:38

Aziz Shaikh · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-18 12:40:09Z

3

Try this regular expression:

/^[a-z\s]+$/

answered Jan 18, 2014 at 12:40

Aziz Shaikh

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Tim Pietzcker Over a year ago

And now that we know even a single space is valid, this is the best answer.

Jon Hanna · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-18 12:41:16Z

1

^(\s|[a-z])*$

Zero or more case characters that are either whitespace, or A-Z.

If you want to make sure there's at least one thing other than white space, then:

^\s*[a-z]+(\s*|[a-z])*$

Zero or more whitespace, at least one character A-Z, then the same as above.

answered Jan 18, 2014 at 12:41

Jon Hanna

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