StringRegExp question

[Cubehead]

Hi, I would like to test something with this pattern "[a-z][a-z0-9_.-]{2,31}". How can I ensure that the string tested starts (or ends) with the pattern ? I've been trying to find the information in the manual (beta 3.2.1.10), without success.

Thanks in advance.

[this-is-me]

Do you need a literal question mark or do you need to match a single character?

[Cubehead]

Do you need a literal question mark or do you need to match a single character?

I would like to check if a string is a valid login which can be between 3 and 32 character long, containing alphanumeric characters, with a possibility of the dot, hyphen or underscore, and starting with a alphabetic character.

The pattern is matched, even if the string starts with a digit. Now that I think of it, maybe I should try an exclusion...

Edit : found the solution. I can use ^ for a starting anchor and $ for an ending one. So my pattern should be "^([a-z][a-z0-9_.-]{2,31})$". I think that this information should go into the manual.

Thanks for your time.

Edited October 18, 2006 by Cubehead

[this-is-me]

"(?i)(\a[\a\d._-]){2,31}"

Edited October 18, 2006 by this-is-me