[UPHPU] Advanced e-mail validation

[Mac Newbold]

Today at 4:52pm, Doug Roy said:

> We use a PHP class for form validation. It includes an e-mail validation 
> that checks for the form XXX at XXX.XXX.
>
> My boss wants more (imagine!). Here's he's latest request:
>
> "Please add some additional simple tests to validate the email 
> extension. Include as valid: .com, .net, .gov, .info, .biz, .org, .tv "
>
> Does anyone on this list use anything like this? or know of any existing 
> PHP class that adds that extra level of e-mail checking?

I haven't tried the pear class that Ray mentioned, but when I do mine, I 
check it with a regular expression, then if it passes, check the domain 
name against DNS. (The regular expression allows for more than two parts 
after the @, so username at host.domain.com works, since that is valid too.) 
To check it against DNS, you can use gethostbyname(), checkdnsrr(), 
getmxrr(), or use system() or `` to call 'host' on your server. Mine 
checks that the domain/hostname after the @ either has an MX record or has 
an IP address (either one is valid and works for mail delivery). This 
takes it a lot further than simply a list of valid top level domains can, 
in terms of the accuracy of the validation, allowing any apparently valid 
email domain, and being a little more future-proof as more top level 
domains get added.

If you run into trouble, just ask, I know several people on the list have 
done similar things.

Mac

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Mac Newbold		MNE - Mac Newbold Enterprises, LLC
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