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Meaning of this line of code

I've inherited a code that uses below Regular expressions to validate password. I tried upper case, lower case, number and @ but none of it pass this validation..what does this mean?

i think the first one means min of 8 characters...

passwordStrengthRegularExpression="(?=.{8,})(((?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*[\W_]))|((?=.*\d)(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*[\W_]))|((?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[\W_]))|((?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])))

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Zvonko

Did you change something when copy to EE?
Because the expression starts with " and does not end so.
And it should start with forward slash: / and end also with forward slash.

Camillia

ASKER

It's part of a ASP.Net's web.config declaration but that section is exactly the same...
if i break it down...what is each section? i know some means i can enter upper case, i can enter lower case but for example when I enter FirstnameLastname...that doesnt get validated...

(?=.{8,})(((?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*[\W_]))
 
|
 
((?=.*\d)(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*[\W_]))
 
|
 
((?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[\W_]))
 
|
 
((?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])))

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Zvonko

OK, the expression has to be written this way:

passwordStrengthRegularExpression=/(?=.{8,})(((?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*[\W_]))|((?=.*\d)(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*[\W_]))|((?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[\W_]))|((?=.*\d)(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])))/

And it checks the password like this:

First check is that there are 8 or more characters: (?=.{8,})
Then the characters has to obay to one of four rules.
Either: lowercase and uppercase and special char (!§$%&/_...)
Or: digit, uppercase special chars
Or: digit lowercase special chars
or: digit lowercase uppercase

The pipe char is the separator with the meaning: or
The braces are groups.
The (?= is the condition prefix for non eating check.

Does it make sense to you?

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Zvonko

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Zvonko

By the way, \W is a difficult meta char. It means all chars that are not \w
And \w means o-9a-zA-Z_ or in words: all Latin alphanumeric chars and the underscore: _
The \W means anything else, like this: ö!Ü§,$?-(>]%}
And because \w allows _ does the \W not allow _ and it is explicitely added to the set: [\W_]

Camillia

ASKER

thanks, let me see.