thanks to everyone for providing the solution for validating textarea using php i have used the following and it worked $add = trim($_POST["add"]); if(strlen(trim($add)) == 0 ) { $error.="<br>Please enter your address "; } as part of the form the user has to fill in their name, assuming if the user simply presses the space bar i would like to display a message like the text area. presently my validation for name is $name = trim($_POST["name"]); if( strlen(trim($name) == 0 ) || !preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z ]+$/x', $name) ) { $error.="Name is blank or has special characters "; } with the above code for validating the name if a user types only spaces then the error message is displayed however if there is a gap in the name example john smith the error message is appearing which should not be happening as i have given preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z ]+$/x', $name) which means the user can type small, upper case letters and also there can be a space in the name how can i change the php code = if( strlen(trim($name) == 0 ) || !preg_match('/^[a-zA-Z ]+$/x', $name) ) so that i can validate both a) blank spaces and also accept spaces between the name, i can validate individually for spaces and uses preg_match as 2 separate lines, instead i would like to validate in a single line of php please advice. thanks.