note 51694 added to function.ereg

I am wondering if anyone would know how to allow special characters such as | / \ ^ _ ` [ ] { }, a to z, 0 to 9, using ereg (or anything else, as long as it works) i tried using ereg("|/\^_`[]{}[a-z0-9]", $string ) and it gives me "Warning: ereg(): REG_EMPTY" Thanks a lot ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.ereg.php Edit -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=edit+51694 Delete: added to the manual -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+51694&report=yes&reason=added+to+the+manual Delete: bad code -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+51694&report=yes&reason=bad+code Delete: spam -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+51694&report=yes&reason=spam Delete: useless -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+51694&report=yes&reason=useless Delete: other reasons -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+51694&report=yes Reject -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=reject+51694&report=yes Search -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php