checking a password for upper lower numbers and symbols

Question

I am using the below script to check my passwords for length, uppercase, lowercase and numbers.

How could I change it to make it check FOR symbols instead of against

Answer 1

Either you determine a list of valid symbols:

preg_match('`[\$\*\.,+\-=@]`',$password)

or you can look for anything that isn't alnum:

preg_match('`[^0-9a-zA-Z]`',$password)