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regexcoldfusionescapingcoldfusion-9

Regex validation of a Colfusion property doesn't work with commas (,)

I have this little component in ColdFusion 9:

component  
    displayname = "My Component"
    accessors = "true"
{
    property
        name = "myProperty"
        type = "string"
        validate = "regex"
        validateparams = "{ pattern = '(Eats)|(Shoots)|(Leaves)' }";
}

which works as expected:

<cfscript>
    myComponentInstance = new myComponent();

    myComponentInstance.setMyProperty('Eats');
    // Property is correctly set

    myComponentInstance.setMyProperty('Shoots');
    // Property is correctly set

    myComponentInstance.setMyProperty('Drinks');
    // Error: The value does not match the regular expression pattern provided.
</cfscript>

But if I modify the validation regex to allow a value like with a comma (,) in it

validateparams = "{ pattern = '(Eats)|(Shoots)|(Leaves)|(Eats, Shoots & Leaves)' }"

then I get an error on the instance creation

<cfscript>
    myComponentInstance = new myComponent();
    /* Error while parsing the validateparam
       '{ pattern = '(Eats)|(Shoots)|(Leaves)|(Eats, Shoots & Leaves)' }'
       for property myProperty */
</cfscript>

It seems like ColdFusion can't process a regular expression with a comma, nor have I found a way of escaping it.

If I try to use a backslash (\), as a regex escaping character, it is then processed as a foreslash (/) by ColdFusion:

validateparams = "{ pattern = '(Eats)|(Shoots)|(Leaves)|(Eats\, Shoots & Leaves)' }"

<cfscript>
    myComponentInstance = new myComponent();
    /* Error while parsing the validateparam
       '{ pattern = '(Eats)|(Shoots)|(Leaves)|(Eats/, Shoots & Leaves)' }'
       for property myProperty */
</cfscript>

Other forms of escaping that I have tried, but to no avail, are:

validateparams = "{ pattern = '(Eats)|(Shoots)|(Leaves)|(Eats#chr(44)# Shoots & Leaves)' }"

validateparams = "{ pattern = '(Eats)|(Shoots)|(Leaves)|(Eats,, Shoots & Leaves)' }"
Solution

  • It's a bug in ColdFusion. Raise it as such: https://bugbase.adobe.com/. I can replicate it in CF 9.0.1. I'm working on a work-around... will get back to you if I come up with something.

    NB: one can pare the repro validateparams string down to this: {pattern = ","}. I'm guessing Adobe are using the comma as a delim, and it never occurred to them it might be data (they're a bit like that with delimited strings).