Eregi error

Hey all, I have been having some trouble with the "eregi" function. I have the following piece of code in my application: function standard_input($input, $min=0, $max=50){

       if (strlen($input) <= $max and strlen($input) >= $min ) {
           $pattern = '^[a-z0-9\!\_ \.- ,/]*$';
           if(!eregi($pattern, $input)){
               return false;
           }else{
               return true;
           }
       }else{
           return false;
       }
         }

And i am running PHP version 5.2.1 I receive the following error: *Warning*: eregi() [function.eregi <http://idontwanttouse.net/MeetMyMate/Bin/Debug/function.eregi>]: REG_ERANGE in *[File Location]* on line *287 *Any ideas what might cause this? Googling REG_ERANGE only showed more questions.