How to limit find/search to at least three characters

[greger]

We currently have a php site connected to a Filemaker database. The website has a simple search box connected to the FileMaker website. The problem is that if a user search for "*" all records will be shown. We do not want the user to be able to do this. Is there any way to set a limit that the search querry has be at least three characters long? Do I set this up in the FileMaker website or in the php code?

[normanicus]

This seems to do it in Filemaker:

@@@*

In PHP you would need to look at regex functions as here:

http://www.regular-expressions.info/php.html

[webko]

You can also use validation at the form level with spry or similar - their textbox functions allow you to specify a minimum number of characters...

And I'd think the FM version would be @@* (Any character x2, plus the wildcard for a three character minimum) - but not tested