Adding Email Validity Test to the existing script.

I'm looking for assistance to incorporate the Email Validity Test in the existing script called "wel.cgi", I use in all forms on my website.
This Email Validity Test should check an email address just to see if it passes a simple syntax check. It should verify that Email address contains the @ sign and only letters numbers, dashes and periods after it. Also check to make sure the address ends in 2 or 3 letters after a period and allow for it to be enclosed in [] such as [209.249.147.129]. If the Email address was filled incorrectly, the script should produce the following notification: "The entered Email address is of an invalid format. Please correct it.", preferably using a javascript that will highlight the form's email input field.

I've found a script called email_check (enclosed below) that partly do the job.
Maybe someone can help me.

###########################################

sub email_check {
local($email) = $_[0];
# Check that the email address doesn't have 2 @ signs, a .., a @., a
# .@ or begin or end with a .
if ($email =~ /(@.*@)|(\.\.)|(@\.)|(\.@)|(^\.)|(\.$)/ ||
# Allow anything before the @, but only letters numbers, dashes
# and periods after it. Also check to make sure the address ends
# in 2 or 3 letters after a period and allow for it to be enclosed
# in [] such as [164.104.50.1]
($email !~ /^.+\@localhost$/ &&
$email !~ /^.+\@\[?(\w|[-.])+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,3}|[0-9]{1,3}\]?$/)) {
return(0);
}
# If it passed the above test, it is valid.
else {
return(1);
}
}
1;

###########################################
[download]

If someone needs the origial script (wel.cgi), I can send it by email or post here.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Adding Email Validity Test to the existing script. by Angel (Friar) on Jun 30, 2003 at 11:42 UTC
Email::Valid It's what I use and it cataches most of the silly email errors such as "angel@aol" or "angel@hotmail" and it looks and passes the really complicated patterns that some places use for email addresses "sgt.angel@area55.nowhere.mil" As ripped out of my code `sub update_email_address( $ ) { my $data; my $query; my $self = shift; if( !Email::Valid->address( $_[0] ) ) { $self->{'error_type'} = "email invalid"; $self->{'error_string'} = "E-mail address is invalid."; return( undef ); } #else if good so use it for something }` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Adding Email Validity Test to the existing script. by BazB (Priest) on Jun 30, 2003 at 11:46 UTC
The only way to really check if an email address is valid is to send something to it. Angel's suggestion (++) will allow you to check if the email address looks like a valid email address, but not if it actually is valid. Update: Abigail's RFC::RFC822::Address module seems to be an alternative email validation module. If the information in this post is inaccurate, or just plain wrong, don't just downvote - please post explaining what's wrong. That way everyone learns.	[reply]
Re: Adding Email Validity Test to the existing script. by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Jun 30, 2003 at 11:57 UTC
You make a big mistake if you think an email address only contains a @ sign, and only letters, numbers, dashes or periods. Any ASCII character can occur in an email address. And a surprising number of them don't need to be escaped or quoted. Abigail	[reply]
Re: Re: Adding Email Validity Test to the existing script. by tbone1 (Monsignor) on Jun 30, 2003 at 12:54 UTC
In fact, you can even have more than one @ sign, believe it or not. IUPUI is an Indiana/Purdue campus here in downtown Indianapolis. It is now so big that it has its own branch campus (everyone following this?), IUPUI at Columbus, which translates to "iupui@c.edu". An e-mail account there could be "smith@iupui@c.edu" (I should point out that this was true at one time, about ten years ago; it may well have changed in the interim.) -- tbone1 Ain't enough 'O's in 'stoopid' to describe that guy. - Dave "the King" Wilson	[reply]
Re: Adding Email Validity Test to the existing script. by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Jun 30, 2003 at 13:51 UTC
This is called address routing. A valid syntax, but many MTA's no longer honour this - it's a bit too spammer friendly. But `\@@abigail.nl` [download] is an email address with a valid syntax. Abigail	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Adding Email Validity Test to the existing script. by adrianh (Chancellor) on Jul 01, 2003 at 21:21 UTC
As well as Email::Valid take a look at Mail::CheckUser. In addition to checking the syntax of the address and checking for an MX record it does a bunch of network checks that can cull a lot of bogus addresses.	[reply]

As ripped out of my code