I’m building a website that helps people find YouTube channels. Users can enter a channel name or URL in a form. I need to check if what they type is valid.
Some URL examples:
https://youtube.com/c/MusicLover123https://youtube.com/user/CookingPro
Channel name examples:
FunnyGuy2000Travel_With_MeGaming Pro
I want to use regular expressions to check both channel names and URLs. But I can’t find clear rules in the YouTube API docs.
Does anyone know how to validate these? What patterns should I look for in channel names and URLs?
I’d really appreciate any help or tips. Thanks!
hey there! i’ve dealt with youtube stuff before. for urls, look for ‘youtube.com/’ followed by ‘c/’, ‘user/’, or ‘channel/’ and then the identifier. names are trickier - they can have spaces and weird characters.
my advice? use a basic regex check, then hit the youtube API to confirm it’s real. That way you catch most without being too strict.
From my experience working with YouTube’s API, validating channel names and URLs can be tricky. For URLs, a regex pattern such as ^https?:\/\/(www\.)?youtube\.com\/(c|user|channel)\/[\w-]{1,}$ captures most cases. However, channel names are more complex because YouTube permits a wider range of characters. Rather than relying solely on regex, it is more robust to first apply a loose regex check and then verify the channel’s existence through an API call. This approach balances user experience with accuracy while also preparing for rate limits and error handling.
As someone who’s worked on similar projects, I can share some insights on YouTube channel validation. For URLs, you’re generally looking at patterns like youtube.com/c/, youtube.com/user/, or youtube.com/channel/ followed by the channel identifier. The identifier can be alphanumeric and may include hyphens or underscores.
For channel names, it’s trickier because YouTube allows a wide range of characters, including spaces and special characters. However, they typically don’t allow certain symbols like @, #, or %. A loose regex for names could be something like ^[\w\s\-.'&]+$, but this might not catch all edge cases.
One approach I’ve found effective is to use a combination of regex for basic validation and then make an API call to YouTube to confirm the channel exists. This way, you’re not relying solely on regex, which can be limiting.
Remember, YouTube’s naming conventions can change, so it’s wise to keep your validation flexible and regularly check the official documentation for updates.