note 56859 deleted from function.preg-match by mazzanet

Note Submitter: jsb17 at cornell dot edu ---- Regarding the 01-May-2005 06:02 post by berndt at www dot michael - berndt dot de You claim "checks and validate an url with preg_match()" and then provide a link to your web page that contains erroneous scripts, advertisements, and this example (as of Sept 17 2005): <?php function ValidateUrl($berndt){ return preg_match("#^([\w$-.+!*'()@:?=&/;]+)$#",$berndt)?1:0; } ?> 1. This function in no way validates anything at all of any use whatsoever. This pregex as concerns URLs is pure bogus. 2. The operators in your syntax <?php return (condition)?1:0 ?> should be spaced out, written as <?php return(condition) ? 1 : 0 ?>. All operators in PHP should be spaced – for legibility, and interpretability. In PHP, two integers $a.$b could either be concatenated as strings or interpreted as a decimal number by PHP. The behavior is unpredictable. 3. The syntax <?php return(condition)?1:0 ?> is redundant. Instead, simply write <?php return(condition) ?>. The former doubles your execution time. 4. Functions carry overhead. If you want to reuse a pregex, or demonstrate it in the documentation, make a variable. Writing a one line function is almost always absolutely pointless.