RE: Using a regular expression to validate a file name

Ah, that is a little less verbose.

Less verbose not always good. :-) And your expression allowed either -
or _, [\w | -] allows only -, which is your intent?

If I am not mistaken \w allows an underscore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression_examples

The limit to the size of the prefix [suffix?] is also a good point.

Why? Why limit the length of the extension? Perhaps a minimum length
{3,} to make it a minimum of 3, but why a max of 4? It's been a long
time since we were limited to 8.3 filenames.

I use this particular script to retrieve PDF and XLS files from the IFS to
the user's browser, so longer lengths are not an issue at the moment. But
could be in the future. I see your point. Thanks for the prefix/suffix
correction :)

Main reason for the check is to prevent a nasty file name such as
"../../../QSYS.LIB/PAYROLL.LIB/EMPLOYEE.FILE" from letting an unscrupulous
person get somewhere they shouldn't. Of course this isn't the only
security measure in place for something like that, but it never hurts to
be careful.

Brian May
Project Lead
Management Information Systems
Garan, Incorporated
Starkville, Mississippi

Young i Professionals
http://www.youngiprofessionals.com