REGEX allow [ ] * ? ' macdon etc in surname text

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I think I have most of the pattern. But need help allowing the [square brackets].

I want the pattern for surnames to be allowed if they have * or ? or ' or [] or MacD or St Jim or O'Brien or combination of any of these.

Example: O'Brien or St James or O'Bri*n or S* James or O'Bri*n? or St Ja*mes? or [O'Bri*n?] or [St *ames?]

I want to use this in a G-form

Thank you

What I have tried:

\w+?[']?[A-Za-z|*|?]{0,20}\s?[a-z A-Z|*|?]{0,20}

Posted 16-Dec-19 3:06am

sseage2

Updated 16-Dec-19 3:49am

v2

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F-ES Sitecore 16-Dec-19 9:50am

Using regex to validate people's names is only going to end in tears.

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OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2019-12-16T03:50:00

Your regex doesn't "allow" for quotes: it requires it.

\w+?[']

Says:

Alphanumeric, one or more repetitions, as few as possible; followed by one character in this class: (quote only)

before continuing.
So it will match

O'
S'
aaaaaa'

But will never match

StJames

because the quote is missing.
In addition, adding '|' in a character class specification doesn't act as an "OR", it add the character '|' to the match list.

I think you are being a little overzealous here: English surnames can contain a wide range of silliness and it's probably better to just go "anything is allowed here" rather than trying to spend too much time rigidly validating it, as you are bound to forget someone. For example, my wife's maiden name was "Henderson-Allen" which wouldn't be allowed by your system, and there are many other oddities you will probably annoy people by rejecting if you aren't very careful.