Canada’s postal code validation in PHP
- Monday, March 24, 2008, 15:31
- php, tutorial
- 11 comments
Few days back, My friend Narendra asked me how to validate the postal code of Canada which is entered through the text box.And, I came up with this Php function as solution for him.
These are the conditions for validation of the postal code of Canada.
- There are six alphanumeric letters.
- Alphabate and digits are alternate and first letter must be alphabate.
- The alphabate shouldn’t contain letters “d”,”f”,”i”,”o”,”q” and “u”.
Postal code “A1B2c5” is a valid postal code whereas “A1f2cZ” or “1AC2E5” are invalid postal code of Canada.
//function to validate postal code of canada
function validateCanadaZip($zip_code)
{
//function by Roshan Bhattara(http://roshanbh.com.np)
if(preg_match("/^([a-ceghj-npr-tv-z]){1}[0-9]{1}[a-ceghj-npr-tv-z]{1}[0-9]{1}[a-ceghj-npr-tv-z]{1}[0-9]{1}$/i",$zip_code))
return true;
else
return false;
}
Now, let’s look at the explanation of the regular expression inside the preg_match() to validate the postal code of Canada as specified by the above condition. As you might know that a Perl compatible regular expression enclosed within “/” sign. The “i” at the end of the expression refers that this comparison is case insensitive.As most of you know, “^”sign is the start of the regular expression and “$” represent the end of the regular expression. And there are three repeated expressions like “([a-ceghj-npr-tv-z]){1}[0-9]{1}”. Let me explain it, the expression “([a-ceghj-npr-tv-z]){1}” represents that there should be one alphabate which doesn’t contain “d”,”f”,”i”,”o”,”q” and “i”. Furthermore, the expression “[0-9]{1}” represents that there should be one digit.
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11 Comments on “Canada’s postal code validation in PHP”
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- PHP Coding School » Blog Archive » php code [2008-03-24 16:59:21]
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I’m confused: “Postal code “A1B2cZ” is a valid postal code” …
“Z” != [0-9]{1}
furthermore, that’s not “alternating”…. the “Z” should be numeric per the rule #2, no?? “cZ” does not alternate between numeric/alpha… Just a point of curiosity more than anything.
sorry for the confustion..that was mistakenly typed and corrected…..thanks a lott
I am using PHP and Mysql(database ) I want to send bulk mail but my server not support .. my server guy told send bulk mail using your localhost … can any one help me.how can i send bulk mail ….. ?????
Hi Roshan, thank you for the great piece of code. One minor issue, the code requires 6 continuous characters, but many people put a space in the middle to make it A2A 2A2 instead of A2A2A2. Some international visitors might also do A2A2 A2 if that’s the format of their own country’s postal code. How can I allow for any spaces between characters?
The Gift Basket King
(a.k.a James)
@Mr. Gift Baskets
You can just add str_replace in the function…
<?
/**
* validateCanadaZip()
*
* function to validate postal code of canada
* @source http://roshanbh.com.np/2008/03/canda-postal-code-validation-php.html
* {@modified by} Fred-Eric Lafaille, http://www.pixelxdesign.com/
*
*
*
* @param mixed $zip_code
* @return array ()
*/
function validateCanadaZip($zip_code)
{
$zip_code = strtoupper($zip_code);
$zip_code = str_replace(” “, “”, $zip_code);
$zip_code = str_replace(”-”, “”, $zip_code);
$count = count( $zip_code);
if(strlen($zip_code) 6) {
return array(false, $zip_code. ” 0×0001″);
}
//function by Roshan Bhattara(http://roshanbh.com.np)
if(preg_match(”/^([a-ceghj-npr-tv-z]){1}[0-9]{1}[a-ceghj-npr-tv-z]{1}[0-9]{1}[a-ceghj-npr-tv-z]{1}[0-9]{1}$/i”,$zip_code))
return array(true, $zip_code);
else
return array(false, $zip_code);
}
$zipcode = “h7w 5c6″;
$result = validateCanadaZip($zipcode);
if ($result['0']) {
print $result['1'] .” est valide”;
} else {
print $result['1'] .” est non-valide”;
}
?>
I am using PHP and Mysql(database ) I want to send bulk mail but my server not support .. my server guy told send bulk mail using your localhost … can any one help me.how can i send bulk mail ….. ?????
i am using php and mysql i want to send bulk but server not support ..my server guy told send bulk mail using your localhost can.. any one help me how can i send bulk mail..?????
I used the function to validate postal code of canada to check postal code format
But I find it too restrictive
Lots of people use upper case o for Zero and vice versa
also 1 and I (upper case i) are interchangeable
Sure it’s not the correct format, but good enough for mailouts.
can you post a modified function to allow for above?
LOL @ Rakesh… hopefully it somehow involves a high speed collision between you and speeding train…
there are only 18 valid letters for the first character of a postal code and Z is not one of them!