I have a validation control that has the following expression:

(?=(.*\\d.*){2,})(?=(.*\\w.*){2,})(?=(.*\\W.*){1,}).{8,}

That's a password with at least 2 digits, 2 alpha characters, 1 non-alphanumeric and 8 character minimum. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be cross-browser compliant.

This validation works perfectly in Firefox, but it does not in Internet Explorer.

A combination of each of your answers results in:

var format = "^(?=.{" + minLength + ",})" + 
    (minAlpha > 0 ? "(?=(.*[A-Za-z].*){" + minAlpha + ",})" : "") + 
    (minNum > 0 ? "(?=(.*[0-9].*){" + minNum + ",})" : "") + 
    (minNonAlpha > 0 ? "(?=(.*\\W.*){" + minNonAlpha + ",})" : "") + ".*$";

EX: "^(?=.{x,})(?=(.*[A-Za-z].*){y,})(?=(.*[0-9].*){z,})(?=(.*\W.*){a,}).*$"

The important piece is having the (?.{x,}) for the length first.

I have a validation control that has the following expression:

(?=(.*\\d.*){2,})(?=(.*\\w.*){2,})(?=(.*\\W.*){1,}).{8,}

That's a password with at least 2 digits, 2 alpha characters, 1 non-alphanumeric and 8 character minimum. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be cross-browser compliant.

This validation works perfectly in Firefox, but it does not in Internet Explorer.

A combination of each of your answers results in:

var format = "^(?=.{" + minLength + ",})" + 
    (minAlpha > 0 ? "(?=(.*[A-Za-z].*){" + minAlpha + ",})" : "") + 
    (minNum > 0 ? "(?=(.*[0-9].*){" + minNum + ",})" : "") + 
    (minNonAlpha > 0 ? "(?=(.*\\W.*){" + minNonAlpha + ",})" : "") + ".*$";

EX: "^(?=.{x,})(?=(.*[A-Za-z].*){y,})(?=(.*[0-9].*){z,})(?=(.*\W.*){a,}).*$"

The important piece is having the (?.{x,}) for the length first.

• javascript
• asp.net
• regex
• validation

3 Answers 3

(?=(.*\W.*){0,}) is not 0 non-alphanumeric characters. It is at least 0 non-alphanumeric characters. If you wanted the password to not contain any non-alphanumeric characters you could do either (?!.*\W) or (?=\w*$).

A simpler solution would be to skip the \W look-ahead, and use \w{8,} instead of .{8,}.

Also, \w includes \d. If you wanted just the alpha you could do either [^\W\d] or [A-Za-z].

/^(?=(?:.*?\d){2})(?=(?:.*?[A-Za-z]){2})\w{8,}$/

This would validate the password to contain at least two digits, two alphas, be at least 8 characters long, and contain only alpha-numeric characters (including underscore).

• \w = [A-Za-z0-9_]
• \d = [0-9]
• \s = [ \t\n\r\f\v]

Edit: To use this in all browsers you probably need to do something like this:

var re = new RegExp("^(?=(?:.*?\\d){2})(?=(?:.*?[A-Za-z]){2})\\w{8,}$");
if (re.test(password)) { /* ok */ }

Edit2: The recent update in the question almost invalidates my whole answer. ^^;;

You should still be able to use the JavaScript code in the end, if you replace the pattern with what you had originally.

Edit3: OK. Now I see what you mean.

/^(?=.*[a-z].*[a-z])(?=.*[0-9].*[0-9]).{3,}/.test("password123") // matches
/^(?=.*[a-z].*[a-z])(?=.*[0-9].*[0-9]).{4,}/.test("password123") // does not match
/^(?=.*[a-z].*[a-z]).{4,}/.test("password123")                   // matches

It seems (?= ) isn't really zero-width in Internet Explorer.

http://development.thatoneplace.net/2008/05/bug-discovered-in-internet-explorer-7.html

Edit4: More reading: http://blog.stevenlevithan.com/archives/regex-lookahead-bug

I think this can solve your problem:

/^(?=.{8,}$)(?=(?:.*?\d){2})(?=(?:.*?[A-Za-z]){2})(?=(?:.*?\W){1})/
new RegExp("^(?=.{8,}$)(?=(?:.*?\\d){2})(?=(?:.*?[A-Za-z]){2})(?=(?:.*?\\W){1})")

The (?=.{8,}$) needs to come first.

This will get you 2 min digits, 2 min characters, and min 8 character length... I refuse to show you how to not allow users to have non-alphanumeric characters in their passwords, why do sites want to enforce less secure passwords?

^(?=.*\d{2})(?=.*[a-zA-Z]{2}).{8,}$

How about one of the existing jQuery based password strength validators - like: http://scripts.simplythebest.net/4/Ajax-Password-Strength-Meter-software.html