Help with Preg Match

So I can't figure preg_match out. If I am trying to verify that $variable is only letters and numbers and not blank allowing a period, -, space, @ symbol as well would something like this work?

If(!preg_match("-@.a-z 1-9", $variable))
{
die("statement");
}

 

You need a delimiting character at either end of your pattern. for example

if(preg_match('%^[a-z0-9@. ]+$%i', $subject)) {
    die('Matched');
}else{
    die('No Match');
}

PHP:

Here's an explaination of what it does (from regexbuddy)

^[a-z0-9@. ]+$
Assert position at the beginning of the string «^»
Match a single character present in the list below «[a-z0-9@. ]+»
   Between one and unlimited times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy) «+»
   A character in the range between “a” and “z” «a-z»
   A character in the range between “0” and “9” «0-9»
   One of the characters “@. ” «@. »
Assert position at the end of the string (or before the line break at the end of the string, if any) «$»

Code (markup):

add more items to the [ ] if you want more characters matched

 

Thank you! That helped a lot.