Validation of security code with leading zero

Hi All,

I am trying to validate the security codes on payment cards but I am having problems with leading zeros.

I initially started off with

validates_length_of :security_code, :is => 3

however this produced some unexpected results. My research suggested that this was down to the fact that validates length of actually validates the amount of bytes not the length of the string/number.

so then I changed my validation to

def validate   unless self.security_code.to_s.size == 3      errors.add("security_code", "should be 3 digits")   end end

however converting a number with a leading zero such as 056 to a string drops the leading zero and becomes 56 which does not pass the validation. (I think this is my best chance if I can keep the leading zero)

finally i have tried

validates_format_of :security_code, :with => /\A[0-9][0-9] [0-9]\Z/, :message => 'must be 3 digits'

but I am no regex expert and this does not appear to work either even tough it seems like a rather simple regex. I have also tried other variations on that regex such as /\d\d\d/ with no success.

Does any one know how I can keep the leading zero or validate the length of this number in any other way. Surely this must be a common problem but I am failing to find any solutions on the net.

Hi --

Thanks dbl...@wobblini.net,

changing the column type in the db would appear to have been the over site in this situation.

Once again thank you for the speedy responce.