email_validation.py

# py_email_validation.py
#
# RFC 2822 - style email validation for Python
# (c) 2011 Noel Bush <noel@aitools.org>
# This code is made available to you under the GNU LGPL v3.
#
# This module provides a single method, valid_email_address(),
# which returns True or False to indicate whether a given address
# is valid according to the 'addr-spec' part of the specification
# given in RFC 2822.  Ideally, we would like to find this
# in some other library, already thoroughly tested and well-
# maintained.  The standard Python library email.utils
# contains a parse_addr() function, but it is not sufficient
# to detect many malformed addresses.
#
# This implementation aims to be faithful to the RFC, with the
# exception of a circular definition (see comments below), and
# with the omission of the pattern components marked as "obsolete".

import re

# All we are really doing is comparing the input string to one
# gigantic regular expression.  But building that regexp, and
# ensuring its correctness, is made much easier by assembling it
# from the "tokens" defined by the RFC.  Each of these tokens is
# tested in the accompanying unit test file.
#
# The section of RFC 2822 from which each pattern component is
# derived is given in an accompanying comment.
#
# (To make things simple, every string below is given as 'raw',
# even when it's not strictly necessary.  This way we don't forget
# when it is necessary.)
#
WSP = r'[ \t]'                                       # see 2.2.2. Structured Header Field Bodies
CRLF = r'(?:\r\n)'                                   # see 2.2.3. Long Header Fields
NO_WS_CTL = r'\x01-\x08\x0b\x0c\x0f-\x1f\x7f'        # see 3.2.1. Primitive Tokens
QUOTED_PAIR = r'(?:\\.)'                             # see 3.2.2. Quoted characters
FWS = r'(?:(?:' + WSP + r'*' + CRLF + r')?' + \
      WSP + r'+)'                                    # see 3.2.3. Folding white space and comments
CTEXT = r'[' + NO_WS_CTL + \
        r'\x21-\x27\x2a-\x5b\x5d-\x7e]'              # see 3.2.3
CCONTENT = r'(?:' + CTEXT + r'|' + \
           QUOTED_PAIR + r')'                        # see 3.2.3 (NB: The RFC includes COMMENT here
                                                     # as well, but that would be circular.)
COMMENT = r'\((?:' + FWS + r'?' + CCONTENT + \
          r')*' + FWS + r'?\)'                       # see 3.2.3
CFWS = r'(?:' + FWS + r'?' + COMMENT + ')*(?:' + \
       FWS + '?' + COMMENT + '|' + FWS + ')'         # see 3.2.3
ATEXT = r'[\w!#$%&\'\*\+\-/=\?\^`\{\|\}~]'           # see 3.2.4. Atom
ATOM = CFWS + r'?' + ATEXT + r'+' + CFWS + r'?'      # see 3.2.4
DOT_ATOM_TEXT = ATEXT + r'+(?:\.' + ATEXT + r'+)*'   # see 3.2.4
DOT_ATOM = CFWS + r'?' + DOT_ATOM_TEXT + CFWS + r'?' # see 3.2.4
QTEXT = r'[' + NO_WS_CTL + \
        r'\x21\x23-\x5b\x5d-\x7e]'                   # see 3.2.5. Quoted strings
QCONTENT = r'(?:' + QTEXT + r'|' + \
           QUOTED_PAIR + r')'                        # see 3.2.5
QUOTED_STRING = CFWS + r'?' + r'"(?:' + FWS + \
                r'?' + QCONTENT + r')*' + FWS + \
                r'?' + r'"' + CFWS + r'?'
LOCAL_PART = r'(?:' + DOT_ATOM + r'|' + \
             QUOTED_STRING + r')'                    # see 3.4.1. Addr-spec specification
DTEXT = r'[' + NO_WS_CTL + r'\x21-\x5a\x5e-\x7e]'    # see 3.4.1
DCONTENT = r'(?:' + DTEXT + r'|' + \
           QUOTED_PAIR + r')'                        # see 3.4.1
DOMAIN_LITERAL = CFWS + r'?' + r'\[' + \
                 r'(?:' + FWS + r'?' + DCONTENT + \
                 r')*' + FWS + r'?\]' + CFWS + r'?'  # see 3.4.1
DOMAIN = r'(?:' + DOT_ATOM + r'|' + \
         DOMAIN_LITERAL + r')'                       # see 3.4.1
ADDR_SPEC = LOCAL_PART + r'@' + DOMAIN               # see 3.4.1

# A valid address will match exactly the 3.4.1 addr-spec.
VALID_ADDRESS_REGEXP = '^' + ADDR_SPEC + '$'

def valid_email_address(string):
    """Indicate whether the given string is a valid email address
    according to the 'addr-spec' portion of RFC 2822 (see section
    3.4.1).  Parts of the spec that are marked obsolete are *not*
    included in this test, and certain arcane constructions that
    depend on circular definitions in the spec may not pass, but in
    general this should correctly identify any email address likely
    to be in use as of 2011."""
    return (re.match(VALID_ADDRESS_REGEXP, string) is not None)