'%' Getting through Preg_Match and causing DB error

[Ryan Walsh]

Hello,

I have a series of text inputs with the preg match to check for special characters. This is a sample of one of the inputs preg_match:

if (preg_match('/^[[:alnum:]\.\-]{6,30}$/', trim($_POST ['security_answer']))) {

It seems to be working fine unless a user enteres a % symbol. What can I do to have this kick back an error like the rest of the invalid preg_matches?

Instead it goes to a "Not Acceptable" 404 error page.

Thanks,
Ryan