How to check if $string contains Hebrew characters?

Hi,
I have a $string and i want to know if it contains Hebrew characters in it,
I wrote the following:


function containHebrewChars ($string)
{
$chars = "×�בגדהוזחטיכלמ×*סעפצקרשת"; // ABC of hebrew chars (AlefBet)
$chars =
preg_replace("/([\xE0-\xFA])/e","chr(215).chr(ord(\${1})-80)",$chars); //
convert it to UTF8
if (preg_match("/[".$chars."]/", $string)) return true;
return false;
}
>

I'm pretty sure there is a better way to do this (regex is overkill), any
ideas?

Regards,
Nitsan