How can I validate regex?

// This is valid, both opening ( and closing )
var_dump(preg_match('~Valid(Regular)Expression~', null) === false);
// This is invalid, no opening ( for the closing )
var_dump(preg_match('~InvalidRegular)Expression~', null) === false);

As the user pozs said, also consider putting @ in front of preg_match() (@preg_match()) in a testing environment to prevent warnings or notices.

To validate a RegExp just run it against null (no need to know the data you want to test against upfront). If it returns explicit false (=== false), it's broken. Otherwise it's valid though it need not match anything.

So there's no need to write your own RegExp validator. It's wasted time...

Use the following expression:

^[a-zA-Z0-9]*$

ie:

using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

Regex r = new Regex("^[a-zA-Z0-9]*$");
if (r.IsMatch(SomeString)) {
  ...
}

No need for jQuery. Use the RegExp constructor and catch the exception :

try {
    new RegExp(someString);
    console.log('good'); 
} catch (e) {
    console.log('bad'); 
}

Demonstration (type something in the input to know if it's a well formed regular expression)