Registration Disallowed Names

[Baving]

Hello,

On my registration script it checks for some disallowed usernames in a database which are not allowed to be registered, for example moderator.

What code could I use in php / mysql query to check if someone is trying to register disallowed names?

Also it needs to be able to use a sort of wildcard. So if I tried to register moderator-05 it wouldn't allow it. With moderator being the banned word.

Thanks

[Mr_Pancakes]

use where $needle is your inputted usernames and $haystack is a string of your disallowed usernames. you could either hardcode these prohibitted usernames in $haystack, or better yet, store them in your db and query for them and store them in $haystack before you call the function.

[code]
function is_substr($needle, $haystack){
      $pos = strpos($haystack, $needle);

      if ($pos === false) {
              // inputted username was not found as a disallowed value.
              return false;
      } else {
              // inputted username is not allowed.
              return true;
      }
}[/code]

[Baving]

I have this function: -

[code]function name_filter($name) {

  $name = mysql_escape_string(strip_tags($name));
  $query = mysql_query("SELECT `word` FROM filter WHERE type = 'N'");

$word = mysql_fetch_array($query);

foreach ($word as $check) {
 

  if(preg_match("/$check/", $name)) return TRUE;

}} [/code]

But using preg_match is there any way to include like a * character to use as a wild card.

So say *php would block Greatphp but not Greathp

[Mr_Pancakes]

do not use preg_match() if you only want to check if one string is contained in another string. Use strpos() or strstr() instead as they will be faster. i think i might have what you're looking for.

try:
[code]
function name_filter($name) {

  $name = mysql_escape_string(strip_tags($name));
  $query = mysql_query("SELECT `word` FROM filter WHERE type = 'N'");
  $word = mysql_fetch_array($query);

  foreach ($word as $check) {
      // swap out the preg_match() function with:
      $pos = strpos($check, $name);

      if ($pos === false) {
              // the $check value was not found in $name, continue.
      } else {
              // the $check value was found in $name, disallow username.
      }

  } // end foreach
} // end function
[/code]