note 86170 added to function.ereg

I`m very sorry for the stupid question but what is the meaning of ^ at the beginning and $ at the end of the string: if (ereg("^[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+\.(com|org|net|mil|edu)$", ---- Server IP: 89.190.194.18 Probable Submitter: 91.139.156.15 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.ereg.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/86170 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86170/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86170/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86170/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86170/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86170/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86170/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/86170 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/86170 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php