Validate Email?

[Cat]

I need to find a way to check for a valid email when people are joining my newsletter.

I'm using the preinstalled form generator script to send the address to the right place and I have the visitor sent to a thank you page, but the validation has got me.

I tried a few ways with javascript, but so far no luck.

[Hitek333]

Hi Cat,

Validating email addresses is surprisingly difficult. If you read the RFC for email, you can begin to see why - there are lots of legal variations on email address formats.

<philosophical mode>
Add to that the fact that not everyone sticks exactly to the RFC, and we have the typical type of mess that humanity invariably makes for itself. Not good.
</philosophical mode>

Anyway, there's a way to do a pretty good job with regular expressions - I think you can use this in your JavaScript. The best example I've come across is from the (Perl oriented) book &quot;Mastering Regular Expressions&quot; from O'Reilly.

You can find the book online at:

[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/

And the Perl code to generate the regular expression required is on the authors page at:

[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]http://public.yahoo.com/~jfriedl/regex/code.html

In case you're not familiar with Perl, I've appended the regular expression below... and yes, those 75 lines x 76 characters of hieroglyphics really are what you need...!

There should be 4724 bytes, including a linefeed (no carriage-return) at the end of every line. You need to remove the linefeeds before use, then use something like:

[nbsp][nbsp][nbsp][nbsp]/^the_long_re_goes_here$/

Good luck :-)

(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n
\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\
xff]+(<a href="mailto:?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]">?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]</a>)|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;
]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;)(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xf
f]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[
^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\
xff])*\))*\))*(<a href="mailto:?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040">?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040</a>)<>@,;
:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;))
*(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\
n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*@(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\
\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\04
0)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-
\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\])(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?
:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80
-\xff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\(
(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]
\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(<a href="mailto:?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]">?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]</a>)|\[(?:[^\\
\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\]))*|(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\0
37\x80-\xff]+(<a href="mailto:?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]">?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]</a>)|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xf
f\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;)(?:[^()<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\x80-\xff\000-\010\012-\03
7]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\
\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\)|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;)*<(?:[\04
0\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]
|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:@(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x
80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@
,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]
)|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\])(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\
\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff
])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^
\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-
\037\x80-\xff]+(<a href="mailto:?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]">?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]</a>)|\[(?:[^\\\x80-
\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\]))*(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\01
5()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*,(?
:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\0
15()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*@(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^
\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<
>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xf
f])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\])(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^
\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\x
ff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:
[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\00
0-\037\x80-\xff]+(<a href="mailto:?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]">?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]</a>)|\[(?:[^\\\x8
0-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\]))*)*:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\
015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*)
?(<a href="mailto:?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040">?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040</a>)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000
-\037\x80-\xff])|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;)(?:(?:[\040\t]
|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[
^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xf
f]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\
\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(<a href="mailto:?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]">?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]</a>)|&quot;(?:
[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;))*(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\
015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*@
(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n
\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff
]+(<a href="mailto:?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]">?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]</a>)|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\
]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\])(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\
xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?
:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80
-\xff])*\))*\))*(<a href="mailto:?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040">?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040</a>)<>@
,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff
])*\]))*(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x8
0-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*>)(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\
015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*

[Hitek333]

Er, that didn't look good, sorry :-( I hope this looks better (with the &quot;Disable AutoLinks and Smileys&quot; option enabled):

(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n
\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\
xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;
]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;)(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xf
f]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[
^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\
xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;
:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;))
*(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\
n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*@(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\
\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\04
0)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-
\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\])(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?
:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80
-\xff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\(
(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]
\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|\[(?:[^\\
\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\]))*|(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\0
37\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xf
f\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;)(?:[^()<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\x80-\xff\000-\010\012-\03
7]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\
\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\)|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;)*<(?:[\04
0\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]
|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:@(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x
80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@
,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]
)|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\])(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\
\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff
])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^
\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-
\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-
\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\]))*(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\01
5()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*,(?
:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\0
15()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*@(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^
\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<
>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xf
f])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\])(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^
\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\x
ff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:
[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\00
0-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x8
0-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\]))*)*:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\
015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*)
?(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000
-\037\x80-\xff])|&quot;(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;)(?:(?:[\040\t]
|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[
^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xf
f]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\
\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|&quot;(?:
[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015&quot;]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*&quot;))*(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\
015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*@
(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n
\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff
]+(?![^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\
]]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\])(?:(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\
xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*\.(?:[\040\t]|\((?
:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80
-\xff])*\))*\))*(?:[^(\040)<>@,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff]+(?![^(\040)<>@
,;:&quot;.\\\[\]\000-\037\x80-\xff])|\[(?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015\[\]]|\\[^\x80-\xff
])*\]))*(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x8
0-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*>)(?:[\040\t]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\
015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff]|\((?:[^\\\x80-\xff\n\015()]|\\[^\x80-\xff])*\))*\))*
<!-- NO_AUTO_LINK -->

[Terra]

Someone had a LOT of time on their hands to build that regex monstrosity...

Surprisingly, it works well as I've been using that for our address syntax checking for a long time...

Once you start running thousands of addresses through this thing, only then will one ever appreciate the majestic power and performance within the perl regular expression engine...

--
Terra
--One small tip, use 'study()' on this first before using--
FutureQuest

[Maynard]

I need to find a way to check for a valid email when people are joining my newsletter.
The confirmation letter requiring response doesn't do it for you? (i.e. double opt-in)

[This message has been edited by Maynard (edited 03-12-01@08:19 am)]

[Cat]

Wow! That does look complicated... I think heiroglyphs would be easier to read :)

[nbsp]I'll give it a shot as soon as I have time (this will take me a while, I'm a novice at perl). Thank you so much for your help.

The confirmation letter requiring response doesn't do it for you? (i.e. double opt-in)
Yeah, I have that as well. The reason I want to try this is that I'm thinking of starting to pay people to advertise my newsletter (PPL program) and would rather that the final tracking (to verify the lead) not be triggered for typos or fake addresses.

[PaulKroll]

Someone had a LOT of time on their hands to build that regex monstrosity...
&quot;Mastering Regular Expressions&quot; took, IIRC, about 2 years of Jeffrey Friedl's life. He goes over the gradual building of that regex (if that's the one: you'll pardon me if I don't recall it from memory!) in reasonable detail.

It doesn't have a PHP section, but covers both Perl and other regex formats extensively (much of which applies to the PHP ereg() functions). Everyone who does regexes will eventually end up with a copy, so if you're one of those people, just give in and get it. :)

(EDIT: Oh my... I just went to the ORA page for MRE, http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex/, clicked on &quot;Author's Errata&quot; and there, Friedl mentions that he read the whole thing out loud to Tubby to try to find errors. He doesn't explain who Tubby is, but the word &quot;Tubby&quot; is a link on that page: http://public.yahoo.com/~jfriedl/regex/tubby.gif[nbsp][nbsp]The image of a seriously expert level coder reciting this obscure book of code conjuration to... well.. go see Tubby. It's just a hoot. :) )
[This message has been edited by PaulKroll (edited 03-12-01@1:36 pm)]

[Cat]

Tubby would still have a better chance at catching any errors in that then I ever could :) Great pic BTW, he's very cute :)

I think I may just hope for people being able to type their address properly, that stuff is *way* over my head. (There is an email they have to reply to in order to be added, but by then the lead would have been paid for even if they typed wrong or didn't respond to the email).

Maybe I'll just wait and see how the sign ups go with my usual advertising methods that don't require direct fees.

[mike_w]

That regex based on RFC 822 rules is a bit impractical for checking modern email addresses. For example, the following is valid according to that regex -

*&amp;^%$#!|_-=+'?`~@skjdfh.com

[chrisheng]

CGI Programming with Perl, 2nd edition, has an
updated email validation routine that apparently
checks email addresses according to its modern
use rather than RFC822.

You needn't get the book to get the routine -
you can download the source code to the
examples from:

ftp://ftp.ora.com/published/oreilly/nutshell/cgi2/

Chris.

[Stephen]

that regex won't catch fake addresses or (most) typos. it only checks whether an address has an acceptable format. getting the user to respond to a message sent to the address is always the best verification.