RE: [PHP] preg_match question: locating unmatched HTML tags

Well, like someone else said, it's hard to look for and match stuff that isn't there. In addition to the security benefit, it's just easier to code something that looks for [b](.*)[/b] and replaces those tags with <b> and </b> (or <strong> and </strong> if you want to be technically correct). Honestly, if you've got a small group of people like you say then just teach them HTML so they don't make mistakes like this. Or provide a "preview" mode so they can double check their work. ---John W. Holmes... PHP Architect - A monthly magazine for PHP Professionals. Get your copy today. http://www.phparch.com/ > -----Original Message----- > From: Andy Crain [mailto:apcrain@fuse.net] > Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 4:54 PM > To: php-general@lists.php.net > Subject: RE: [PHP] preg_match question: locating unmatched HTML tags > > John, > Thanks. I'm considering that, but the application I'm working on is for > a small intranet that will be for only a small group of supervised > users, so vulnerability isn't such a large concern. > Andy > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: John W. Holmes [mailto:holmes072000@charter.net] > > Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 1:06 AM > > To: 'Andy Crain'; php-general@lists.php.net > > Subject: RE: [PHP] preg_match question: locating unmatched HTML tags > > > > > I'm trying to build a regexp that would parse user-supplied text and > > > identify cases where HTML tags are left open or are not properly > > > matched-e.g., <b> tags without closing </b> tags. This is for a sort > > of > > > message board type of application, and I'd like to allow users to > use > > > some HTML, but just would like to check to ensure that no stray tags > > are > > > input that would screw up the rest of the page's display. I'm new to > > > regular expressions, and the one below is as far as I've gotten. If > > > anyone has any suggestions, they'd be very much appreciated. > > > > Letting users enter HTML is a bad idea. Even if you only let them use > > <b> tags, they can still put ONCLICK and mouseover effects for the > bold > > text to screw with your other users. > > > > Use a BB style code, such as [b] for bold, [i] for italics, etc. This > > way, you only match pairs and replace them with HTML and use > > htmlentities on anything else. This way an unmatched [b] tag won't be > > replaced with <b> and mess up your code. > > > > ---John W. Holmes... > > > > PHP Architect - A monthly magazine for PHP Professionals. Get your > copy > > today. http://www.phparch.com/ > > > > > > > > -- > > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > > > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php