Quick email address check

I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name and email address.

I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just inputted. I can check the
syntax, etc. but want check if the address exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to
bounce etc. I'll just deal with this separately.

Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it bounces?

Thanks....

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 1:28 PM, Al <news@ridersite.org> wrote:
> I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name and email address.
>
> I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just inputted. I can check the
> syntax, etc. but want check if the address exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to
> bounce etc. I'll just deal with this separately.
>
> Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it bounces?
>
> Thanks....
>
> --
> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
>
>

You could use PEAR Validate::email() with the hostname lookup. It
isn't exactly what you're asking for but I use it a lot with fairly
good success.

On Wed, March 26, 2008 12:28 pm, Al wrote:
> Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it
> bounces?

Yes.

Force the user to click on a link to prove that they actually CHECK
that email address.

Just because it doesn't bounce doesn't mean it's a valid email address.

--
Some people have a "gift" link here.
Know what I want?
I want you to buy a CD from some indie artist.
http://cdbaby.com/from/lynch
Yeah, I get a buck. So?

Al wrote:

> I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name
> and email address.
>
> I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just
> inputted. I can check the syntax, etc. but want check if the address
> exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to bounce etc.
> I'll just deal with this separately.
> Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it
> bounces?

Do an MX lookup on the domain, maybe attempt a brief connection to it.


/Per Jessen, Zürich

Al wrote:
> I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name and
> email address.
>
> I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just
> inputted. I can check the syntax, etc. but want check if the address
> exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to bounce etc. I'll
> just deal with this separately.
>
> Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it
> bounces?
>
> Thanks....

There may be a SMTP class to help you do it, or you can do it manually
but here is a quick process. Look up the MX for thedomain.com. maybe
use checkdnsrr(). If not found then it is bad, if found connect and
issue the following SMTP commands:

MAIL FROM: me@example.com
250 ok
RCPT TO: nonexistant@thedomain.com
550 sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.7.17)

Optimally you want to see:
250 ok

You could also see:
553 sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts (#5.7.1)

This would mean that there is an MX record for thedomain.com pointing to
this server but this server isn't configured to accept mail for this domain.


-Shawn

All good suggestions guys. Richard's has the advantage of solving the potential for a delay by the
user's email server.

I'll have the user submit and tell'm to wait while I check the email address for them. Solves
several problems.

Al wrote:
> I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name and
> email address.
>
> I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just
> inputted. I can check the syntax, etc. but want check if the address
> exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to bounce etc. I'll
> just deal with this separately.
>
> Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it
> bounces?
>
> Thanks....

Hello,

on 03/26/2008 02:28 PM Al said the following:
> I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name and
> email address.
>
> I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just
> inputted. I can check the syntax, etc. but want check if the address
> exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to bounce etc. I'll
> just deal with this separately.
>
> Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it
> bounces?

You may want to try this E-mail validation PHP class that does just
that. It simulates an attempt to send a message to the SMTP server of
the e-mail domain. It does not finish to send the message. The message
could still bounce later, but at least you will still detect some
invalid addresses.

http://www.phpclasses.org/emailvalidation


--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

PHP professionals looking for PHP jobs
http://www.phpclasses.org/professionals/

PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
http://www.phpclasses.org/

Can anyone recommend anything that would be good to use on an existing
mailing list that is a few years old and didn't have any bounce handling?

On 27/03/2008, Manuel Lemos <mlemos@acm.org> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> on 03/26/2008 02:28 PM Al said the following:
> > I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name and
> > email address.
> >
> > I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just
> > inputted. I can check the syntax, etc. but want check if the address
> > exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to bounce etc. I'll
> > just deal with this separately.
> >
> > Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it
> > bounces?
>
> You may want to try this E-mail validation PHP class that does just
> that. It simulates an attempt to send a message to the SMTP server of
> the e-mail domain. It does not finish to send the message. The message
> could still bounce later, but at least you will still detect some
> invalid addresses.
>
> http://www.phpclasses.org/emailvalidation
>
>
> --
>
> Regards,
> Manuel Lemos
>
> PHP professionals looking for PHP jobs
> http://www.phpclasses.org/professionals/
>
> PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP
> http://www.phpclasses.org/
>
> --
> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
>
>

> All good suggestions guys. Richard's has the advantage of solving the
> potential for a delay by the user's email server.
>
> I'll have the user submit and tell'm to wait while I check the email
> address for them. Solves several problems.
>
> Al wrote:
>> I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name
>> and email address.
>>
>> I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just
>> inputted. I can check the syntax, etc. but want check if the address
>> exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to bounce etc.
>> I'll just deal with this separately.
>>
>> Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it
>> bounces?

The Mail/RFC822 class in PEAR has a quick(er) static method for checking
the format of an Interweb email address.

Mail_RFC822::isValidInetAddress()

IIRC

--
Richard Heyes
Employ me:
http://www.phpguru.org/cv

At 1:28 PM -0400 3/26/08, Al wrote:

>I'm scripting a simple registry where the user can input their name
>and email address.
>
>I'd like to do a quick validity check on the email address they just
>inputted. I can check the syntax, etc. but want check if the address
>exists. I realize that servers can take a long time to bounce etc.
>I'll just deal with this separately.
>
>Is there a better way than simply sending a test email to see if it bounces?
>
>Thanks....

I've had pretty good success from the following:

after checking the syntax (exactly one @, at least one . to the right
of the @, etc.), if it passes the syntax check, I then set $rhs to
everything to the right of the @. Then I test:

if (!checkdnsrr($rhs, 'MX'))
{
invalid
}
else
{
valid
}

-----===== Bill =====-----
--

You can't tell which way the train went by looking at the track.