RegularExpressionValidator::ValidationExpression Property

 

Gets or sets the regular expression that determines the pattern used to validate a field.

Namespace:   System.Web.UI.WebControls
Assembly:  System.Web (in System.Web.dll)

public:
[ThemeableAttribute(false)]
property String^ ValidationExpression {
	String^ get();
	void set(String^ value);
}

Property Value

Type: System::String^

A string that specifies the regular expression used to validate a field for format. The default is String::Empty.

Exception Condition
HttpException

The regular expression is not properly formed.

Use this property to specify the pattern used to check for predictable sequences of characters, such as those in social security numbers, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and postal codes.

The RegularExpressionValidator does not perform validation on an empty string. If the string you are testing might be empty, use the RequiredFieldValidator as well as the RegularExpressionValidator.

For more information on regular expressions, see .NET Framework Regular Expressions.

System_CAPS_noteNote

If you experience problems with pattern matching constructs, try wrapping the expression with "^(" and ")$". For example, "a|ab" becomes "^(a|ab)$".

This property cannot be set by themes or style sheet themes. For more information, see ThemeableAttribute and ASP.NET Themes and Skins.

The following example demonstrates how to use the ValidationExpression property to validate a field with five numeric digits. When the Button control is clicked, the resulting OnClick event handler checks the IsValid property of the Page to determine whether the text in the TextBox satisfies the regular expression.

System_CAPS_security Security Note

This example has a text box that accepts user input, which is a potential security threat. By default, ASP.NET Web pages validate that user input does not include script or HTML elements. For more information, see Script Exploits Overview.

No code example is currently available or this language may not be supported.

.NET Framework
Available since 1.1
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