# Validate against spaces

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validate-against-spaces/70173>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [February 18, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validate-against-spaces/70173 "2006-02-18T20:03:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validate-against-spaces/70173/1 "2006-02-18T20:03:46Z")

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How would I go about validating against spaces (for urls)  
Instead I wish to use dashes.

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validate-against-spaces/70173/2 "2006-02-19T02:58:21Z")

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You might want to clarify your question a bit more if you want a useful  
answer.

What data are you trying to validate, and where?

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validate-against-spaces/70173/3 "2006-02-19T12:08:08Z")

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Luke R. wrote:

> You might want to clarify your question a bit more if you want a useful  
> answer.
> 
> What data are you trying to validate, and where?

I’d like to validate urls without any spaces:  
So this wouldn’t be allowed ‘new page’  
But this would ‘new-page’

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validate-against-spaces/70173/4 "2006-02-19T17:37:50Z")

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Is the url a field in an ActiveRecord object?

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**Author:** ![alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@alexander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alexander)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/validate-against-spaces/70173/5 "2006-02-19T18:06:23Z")

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Richard W. wrote:

> Is the url a field in an ActiveRecord object?

yes

I was thinking along the lines of  
validates\_format\_of :url, :with =\> ‘ect’