"UndoMiel" <undomiele@h...> wrote in message
news:6gSPc.1153$4F2.1126@n......
> Hi,
>
> I am looking for a way to validate IP addresses using XML Schemas. The
> following is what i used:
>
>  <xsd:simpleType name="IPType">
>       <xsd:restriction base="xsd:string">
>            <xsd:pattern value="(([1-9]?[0-9] | 1[0-9][0-9] | 2[0-4][0-9] |
> 25[0-5])\.){3}
>                                            ([1-9]?[0-9] | 1[0-9][0-9] |
> 2[0-4][0-9] | 25[0-5])"/>
>        </xsd:restriction>
>  </xsd:simpleType>
>
> I think the regular expression is correct, however an XML document with a
> valid IP address doesn't pass the validation test.
>
> Can anyone tell me what I can do to solve this?
>
> Many Thanks
>
I used the regular expression tester at
http://www.roblocher.com/technotes/regexp.aspx

to check how well your pattern worked and it seems that for some reason the
order matters (despite what you'd think...)

this
[1-9]?[0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]

is not the same as this
1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9]?[0-9]

Anyway my tests showed that if you reorder it like this
((25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0-9][0-9]|[1-9]?[0-9])\.){3}(25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|1[0
-9][0-9]|[1-9]?[0-9])
it will work just fine.

Some regular expression expert can tell you why A|B  !=  B|A

So try that, making sure you have no blanks to the left of the alternation
symbol '|' else it will try and match a blank there instead of the previous
digit...

HTH,
Johnny