Question

I have a name field and I want to validate, so the first char must be alphabetical of the name and allow spaces and dashes after. I have this so for but it will allow “-” as first char.

preg_match("/^([a-z -])+$/i", $str)

Thanks

Answer 1

Being specific is the better option. But you can also use an assertion:

preg_match("/^(?![- ])([a-z -])+$/i", $str)

The (?!..) can exclude characters from occuring first. You could also use a positive assertion like (?=\w).