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Filtering out bad email addresses

 
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All Forums >> Web Development >> Search Engine Optimization and Web Business >> Filtering out bad email addresses
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DebSpecs

 

Posts: 136
Joined: 1/4/2007
From: NY
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Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/7/2009 11:50:03   
Hi,

Is there a software program i can use that filters out bad email addy's?

Ideally, i'd like to paste 100 or so email addresses in, and find and remove the bad apples.

But i don't trust online softwares, to maintain the privacy of our customers' emails.

Thank you!
Tailslide

 

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From: Out here on the raggedy edge
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/7/2009 11:58:17   
I'd say there's no way to guarantee an email address is good as long as it is formed properly.

Generally I'd say running checks on the email addresses when you collect them e.g through a form. You can use various methods to validate whether the address is formed properly then - but there's no way there of checking if the email actually belongs to the person - if you see what I mean.

Not sure of the context but you often see email addresses being confirmed when submitted by the provider having to click a link on a confirmation email. That way you'd ensure that it definitely works.

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DebSpecs

 

Posts: 136
Joined: 1/4/2007
From: NY
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/7/2009 12:34:20   
thank you for your quick response!

I should have been more specific, I now see.

The problem i'm having is sorting out typos!

The list of emails comes from a report I run of all the emails typed that day by our staff. Due to typos, some are malformed. So, when I try to BCC all the addresses to send them an "order shipped" email, if there are any badly formed addresses the email gets blocked to everyone.

It's just hard to look for 1 or 2 typos in a list of over 100 addresses.

Thank you!

(in reply to Tailslide)
womble

 

Posts: 6009
Joined: 3/14/2005
From: Living on the edge
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/7/2009 20:14:54   
You can use javascript validation to check email addresses submitted in forms to check there's an '@' symbol and depending on the script you use, the domains that are allowed as okay, such as 'com' rather than 'con' and various other combinations of formats etc., depending on the exact script. Usually the script will give the user an error message, and highlight the incorrect field, and often you can customise the error message.

This one just checks that there's at least one '.' after the '@' and a couple of other common mistakes, but you can get quite complex scripts that check for alsorts of combinations and allowed domains etc. This page has a couple of more advanced ones, as well as one that asks a visitor to manually check their email address before submitting it, and asking visitors to enter their email address twice and checking the two fields match is one way to get users to pay more attention to spelling their email address right, and very easy to do using javascript - this page shows a simple script that checks the content of two fields matches.

A google search for something like "javascript email validation" will bring up loads of examples of scripts, that are often just "copy and paste" and you can use with existing forms with little alteration. You can also do it using server-side PHP or ASP, but that involves extra calls to the server and a delay for the user for the page to reload, but with javascript it's also possible to use a script that generates an alert when the focus moves from the second field and doesn't allow the form to be submitted until the fields match. The scripts don't store lists of email addresses - just use regular expressions to check for valid strings of characters.

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DebSpecs

 

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From: NY
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/8/2009 11:25:32   
Thank you, Womble.

Actually, I don't need it for a form. Our website already has java checks for our forms.

It's really for a list of emails I make everyday. The list sometimes contains typos. The typos are made by our staff when entering data in our customer contact software.

Is there a way I can check for typos in a list of emails?
(as opposed to a form that accepts one email at a time?)

(in reply to DebSpecs)
treetopsranch

 

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From: Cottage Grove, OR, USA
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/8/2009 12:56:26   
quote:

Is there a way I can check for typos in a list of emails?


No. Because email addresses can be made up of garbage words or numbers. You can only check for format and certain characters. Just look at some AOL email addresses. They look like jibberish but are all valid.

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DebSpecs

 

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From: NY
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/8/2009 13:12:22   
Ah, yes, treetopsranch! That is exactly what I want to check for, format! (not necessarily typos).

But what i'm trying to find is how to check for what you say (bad format) in a LIST of email addresses. A form checker wouldn't work, because that checks one addy at a time.

I need to plug in an entire list of 100 or so emails, and check them all for format errors.

thank you!

(in reply to DebSpecs)
treetopsranch

 

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From: Cottage Grove, OR, USA
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/8/2009 20:12:21   
You know I would dump those email addresses in a database like ACCESS or similar and do a alpha sort. The ones that have a bad format should stand out in the sort. You could do it in a spreadsheet also and sort for the same thing.

But you still have to eyeball them and know what you are looking for.

Edited post to add this: Deb you shouldn't have any of these characters in those email addresses: [! # $ % & ' * + - / = ? ^ _ ` { | } ~]

Edited again to mention that the underline between characters may be allowed.

< Message edited by treetopsranch -- 1/9/2009 17:19:09 >


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DebSpecs

 

Posts: 136
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From: NY
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/9/2009 10:42:45   
yes, yes! how simple! A sort. thank you for your time, you made my life that much more efficient!

(in reply to DebSpecs)
womble

 

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From: Living on the edge
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/9/2009 20:00:29   

quote:

ORIGINAL: treetopsranch
Edited post to add this: Deb you shouldn't have any of these characters in those email addresses: [! # $ % & ' * + - / = ? ^ _ ` { | } ~]


Actually Don, due to a quirk in how Gmail handles the account name bit of the email address (and I gather some other email providers do too), + is a valid character you can use in an email address. I use it with my Gmail address sometimes to filter incoming emails automatically or to check where an incoming email's originated from (i.e. how they got my email address and whether it's someone I legitimately gave my address to) - details of how it can work here.

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TexasWebDevelopers

 

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Joined: 2/22/2002
From: Dallas, TX
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RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/9/2009 20:43:03   
We've used regular expressions for validation in the past like this:
(It even supports gmails' form name+name@gmailcom)
quote:


<%
const numFields = 1
dim errorArray()
redim preserve errorArray(numFields)

if request.form("isSubmitted") = "yes" then

eMail_Address= lcase(trim(request.form("eMail_Address")))


ErrorMsg = ""
dim re, results
set re = New RegExp

'Email
re.Pattern = "^(([A-Za-z0-9]+_+)|([A-Za-z0-9]+\-+)|([A-Za-z0-9]+\.+)|([A-Za-z0-9]+\++))*[A-Za-z0-9]+@((\w+\-+)|(\w+\.))*\w{1,63}\.[a-zA-Z]{2,6}$"
results = re.Test(eMail_Address)
if results then
errorArray(0) = "False"
else
errorArray(0) = "True"
ErrorMsg = ErrorMsg & "Please enter a valid Email Address.<br>"
end if
end if
%>
<form action="email-reg-exp-demo.asp" method="post" name="myForm" id="myForm">
<!-- Turns the text label eMail Address: red if not a valid email address -->
<%if errorArray(0) = "True" then%><font color="red">eMail Address:</font>
<%else%>
eMail Address:
<%end if%>

<input name=eMail_Address size=25 tabindex=4 value="<%=lcase(eMail_Address)%>">
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
<input type="hidden" name="isSubmitted" value="yes">
</form>
<% if ErrorMsg <> "" then %><font color="red" ><%= ErrorMsg %></font><%end if%>


Example: http://www.texaswebdevelopers.com/examples/email-reg-exp-demo.asp

The pattern can be changed to include/exclude whatever character you desire. There is an ongong debate on which regular expression is the "best"...here are some others we've played with:

^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$

^([a-zA-Z0-9_'+*$%\^&!\.\-])+\@(([a-zA-Z0-9\-])+\.)+([a-zA-Z0-9:]{2,4})+$

^[a-zA-Z][\w\.-]*[a-zA-Z0-9]@[a-zA-Z0-9][\w\.-]*[a-zA-Z0-9]\.[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z\.]*[a-zA-Z]$

The reg ex can be use in a vb script to check a list for valid / not valid emails.

< Message edited by TexasWebDevelopers -- 1/9/2009 20:54:29 >


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treetopsranch

 

Posts: 1539
From: Cottage Grove, OR, USA
Status: offline

 
RE: Filtering out bad email addresses - 1/9/2009 20:43:48   
Thanks Womble. I got those no-no characters from a PHP email validation script. I guess if that script is used then if someone uses the + then that script will toss it.

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Don from TreeTops Ranch, Oregon

"I've got a taste for quality and luxury"


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