PHP Validate Email Address: Email Validator

When working with forms and interacting with your visitors, you may want to verify if your visitor entered an email address in the right field, and if it is valide or not.

Most of people who are new to php world, just verify if the text box of the email address is filled or not, without verifying the syntax of the email address...

Something like this they use:
if (isset($_POST['email'])) {
// do something
}


But when you want to develop a php website in the best way, taking care of all little details, you should think what happens when your user does make a mistake in the email address, writing something like this: his_email@gmailcom, or his_emailgmail.com or even he writes ssdfsff (like many people do), I'm sure you would like to inform him and ask him to correct his email address, you maybe also want to check if the domain name of his email address is valid, you can't accept an email like this: blahblah@dfsjhbhjjqsdqq.fdf .

So here is the php script I think you should use everytime you have a form with 'email address' input :
<?php
function validate_email($email) {

   //check for all the non-printable codes in the standard ASCII set,
   //including null bytes and newlines, and exit immediately if any are found.
   if (preg_match("/[\\000-\\037]/",$email)) {
      return false;
   }
   $pattern = "/^[-_a-z0-9\'+*$^&%=~!?{}]++(?:\.[-_a-z0-9\'+*$^&%=~!?{}]+)*+@(?:(?![-.])[-a-z0-9.]+(?<![-.])\.[a-z]{2,6}|\d{1,3}(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})(?::\d++)?$/iD";
   if(!preg_match($pattern, $email)){
      return false;
   }
   // Validate the domain exists with a DNS check
   // if the checks cannot be made (soft fail over to true)
   list($user,$domain) = explode('@',$email);
   if( function_exists('checkdnsrr') ) {
      if( !checkdnsrr($domain,"MX") ) { // Linux: PHP 4.3.0 and higher & Windows: PHP 5.3.0 and higher
         return false;
      }
   }
   else if( function_exists("getmxrr") ) {
      if ( !getmxrr($domain, $mxhosts) ) {
         return false;
      }
   }
   return true;
} // end function validate_email
?>
 


Now you can use this function with the email address you want to verify as parameter, and it will return you true if it valide and false if it is not.
This nice function will not know if an email exist really or not, it just verifies the syntax and the domain name, for example will not know that qsddsfqsdsdfqsdsqdsqd@gmail.com is not valide, but knows that qsqsdsq@dfsfsqdqsdqd.com is an invalid email address .

I hope this help you a lot.
Please leave comments or link to us if you think this is usefull :)

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alternately:

filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'nameofemailvariablethatyouwantchecked', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)

http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_ref_filter.asp

Anonymous said...

of course you do need the semicolon at the end of that line of code :X

ILyes said...

Thank you Marshton, the php filters are a great solution for this, and for many other problems like validating urls and so much things :)

I will surely post about filters in details in my next post thanks to you :D

Thank you again.

Web Marketing firm said...

Very useful information.. i am new to php. thanks for sharing...

d-NIZ said...

Thanks for the function it's really useful.but i'm wondering "$pattern = "/^[-_a-z0-9\'+*$^&%=~!?{}]++(?:\.[-_a-z0-9\'+*$^&%=~!?{}]+)*+@(?:(?![-.])[-a-z0-9.]+(?<![-.])\.[a-z]{2,6}|\d{1,3}(?:\.\d{1,3}){3})(?::\d++)?$/iD";" variable what does exactly?can you explain it in advance?

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I've been trying to get this solution done well and you've really made that feasible for a new guy like me.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Perfect. Just what I was looking for. I especially like the use of
checkdnsrr and how it checks to make sure the function exists before calling it. Great job.

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openplus said...

If you simple and effective Script for validating an email id then check this tutorial at
http://html5planet.blogspot.in/2012/07/validate-e-mail-address-with-php.html

you will find complete code and easy to use process.

web development services said...

Very important and effective codes you have shared and there is no doubt that these codes are very helpful being a professional in this field.

Fred White said...

very useful post
thnx!!!

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TechToyz said...

Very Nice Article

Anonymous said...

Awesome friend! Was trying hard looking for one similar! Many thanks. Also have u got a post anywhere on php security. Cheers

Pedro Pinheiro said...

Nice !!! Very useful. Thank you very much....

GayBoy said...

The problem with the standard PHP function is that it doesn't check on the validity of the domain.

I've made a small piece of code which extends the standard PHP function with also domain checking.

http://www.wmappz.com/php/validate-email-address/

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LOL elo boosting said...

Thanks Marshton, the actual php filter systems really are a excellent answer with this, as well as for a lot of additional difficulties such as validating web addresses and thus a lot points: )#)

I'll certainly publish regarding filter systems within particulars during my following publish because of a person.

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