Any alternative to regex email validation?

Question

I have managed to write a regex which validates an email.

'/[a-zA-Z0-9]+[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+(@{1})[a-zA-Z]+(\.)(com){1}/'

I am finding it pretty difficult to frame complete regex for email validation.

The thing is, I think it would be better for me if there is an alternative to regex.

Can this validation be done efficiently using if/else statements (or other conditional statements)?

Is there a fool-proof alternative to regex?

Answer 1

Is there a best and fool-proof alternative to regex?

Pseudocode:

if (strpos($text, '@') === FALSE)
    print("not an email for sure")
else
    sendConfirmationEmailToVerifyItExists()

The best way to validate an email address is to send an email to it. Anything else will cause you to reject valid email addresses, because the rules are so complex.

Answer 2

In short, no, there is no better way to play with strings other than regular expressions unless you are using a library/package that provides out of the box functions to use. Their utility/importance is simply reflected by the fact that they are available in all languages in one capacity or the other.

Here is the long answer.

Your question implies that your problem is not limited to validating an email address but rather validating strings using regular expressions.

First off, for an alternative, you can surely break a string up and treat it any way you like. All modern languages have a comprehensive list of string functions that you can use. However, you should also know that it will not be worth the effort and will make your code look messy.

Ultimately, you will wonder is there an easier and better way to do this to which the answer will be regular expressions.

As for them being hard to learn, I have met software professionals who have 10+ years industry experience but still use Google for their regular expression needs so you are not alone in that regard.

The only way to get better at them is to keep learning and practicing but isn't that the case with every skill?

Answer 3

In PHP, I use this function:

function validate_email($email)  
{  
    return filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === false ? false : true;  
}

Answer 4

HTML5 has the input type email:

<input type="email" ...>

This is supported in all browsers except safari.

With PHP, you can validate an email with:

$email = 'myEmail@gmail.com';
if (filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL))
{
    echo 'Email is considered to be valid';
}

PHP Validation

Here is more about JavaScript email validation with a regex.

Notes:

Thinking about how should the regex look like for an email validation is not so easy. Other smart guys have spent their time with it. Just copy and paste the regex from a serious source (with permission), link to it, and you are done.