ctype_alpha but allow spaces(php)

Question

I was wondering if one can allow spaces in a textfield when checking it with ctype_alpha. Since ctype_alpha only allows alphabetical letters, I don't know how to let the user enter space in the field. I did try using ctype_space but that didn't work. I simply want the user to be able to type only alphabets and they have a choice to include spaces if they "wish." I hope I will not have to use regexp as I am very new to all of this and hope to learn it at a later date. Below is some of the code...Thank you.

elseif (!ctype_alpha($fname))

   {

echo "Your name may only contain alphabetical letters";

   }

Answer 1

this is what I would do

if (!ctype_alpha(str_replace(' ', '', $fname)))

this allows for spaces only, but if you want to allow more than just spaces, like punctuation or what not, read up on str_replace, it allows for arrays

str_replace(array(' ', "'", '-'), '', $fname)

I'm suggesting this because First Name may have apostrophe and last name may also have dashes