# Folder path - regex **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [June 20, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/folder-path-regex/170659 "2009-06-20T12:41:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![newb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/2acd7d/32.png) [@newb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/newb)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 12:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/folder-path-regex/170659/1 "2009-06-20T12:41:50Z")
Hellow everyone… i have to validate a my folderpath field… could you people suggest any reqular expression to validate a valid path… that field should not accept input like “My Documents” but should accept “c:\Backup” i searched the web and i tried this… Regular Expression: ^((([a-zA-Z]:)(\{2}[a-zA-Z]+)(\{2}\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}.\d{1,3}))(?=(\(\w[\w ]_)))(\\w[\w]_)\*)$ .but was not usefull… pls favour for me… Thanks for any helps ---
**Author:** ![newb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/2acd7d/32.png) [@newb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/newb)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 12:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/folder-path-regex/170659/2 "2009-06-20T12:57:25Z")
On Jun 20, 11:41 am, Newb N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hellow everyone… > i have to validate a my folderpath field… > could you people suggest any reqular expression to validate a valid > path… > that field should not accept input like “My Documents” > but should accept “c:\Backup” You’re going to have to be a little more precise: what is it that you are trying to ensure? No spaces, no special characters, absolute paths only, something else ? Also what about platforms where paths are delimited in different ways ? What will you be doing with this path ? Fred ---
**Author:** ![newb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/2acd7d/32.png) [@newb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/newb)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/folder-path-regex/170659/3 "2009-06-20T13:02:27Z")
Frederick C. wrote: > On Jun 20, 11:41�am, Newb N. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) > wrote: > > > Hellow everyone… > > i have to validate a my folderpath field… > > could you people suggest any reqular expression to validate a valid > > path… > > that field should not accept input like �My Documents� > > but should accept �c:\Backup� > > You’re going to have to be a little more precise: what is it that you > are trying to ensure? No spaces, no special characters, absolute paths > only, something else ? Also what about platforms where paths are > delimited in different ways ? What will you be doing with this path ? > > Fred thanks for the reply in that folder path location i m going to save files. and i m on windows … ---
**Author:** ![newb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/2acd7d/32.png) [@newb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/newb)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/folder-path-regex/170659/4 "2009-06-20T16:22:16Z")
Newb N. wrote: […] > in that folder path location i m going to save files. On the client side? For security reasons, Web applications don’t have direct access to the client-side filesystem. You’ll have to give the client a download link and let the browser program take care of saving it OTOH, if this is on the server side, you can construct the path in a way that you know will be valid. In either case, there is _no point_ to the validation you’re trying to do. > and i m on windows … Doesn’t mean your clients will be, so you can’t only accept Windows-style paths! Really, there’s no validation that can do what you want here. ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid