This is a masked input plugin for the jQuery javascript library. It allows a user to more easily enter fixed width input where you would like them to enter the data in a certain format (dates,phone numbers, etc). It has been tested on Internet Explorer 6/7, Firefox 1.5/2/3, Safari, Opera, and Chrome. A mask is defined by a format made up of mask literals and mask definitions. Any character not in the definitions list below is considered a mask literal. Mask literals will be automatically entered for the user as they type and will not be able to be removed by the user.The following mask definitions are predefined:

• a - Represents an alpha character (A-Z,a-z)
• 9 - Represents a numeric character (0-9)
• * - Represents an alphanumeric character (A-Z,a-z,0-9)

• unmasked.maskedInput is triggered when the input is blurred and the mask is cleared. If you're performing separate validation, it may be useful to bind validation to this event. For example, if you're checking whether a field is empty, you don't want to consider the temporary placeholders in a field. When this event is triggered, they will be gone.