Email Address Validator

Reviewed by: JJ Ben-Joseph

Examples of Valid and Invalid Addresses

Understanding Email Syntax

Email addresses are built from two logical parts separated by an at sign. The portion before the at sign is known as the local part, while the string after the sign is the domain. A concise representation is

The validator used in this page relies on a regular expression that approximates the syntax allowed by RFC 5322. It checks that the local part contains permitted characters and that the domain consists of labels separated by dots with valid characters and lengths. A simplified pattern can be expressed in MathML as

Where label represents an alphanumeric string that may also contain hyphens but cannot begin or end with one. The JavaScript implementation applies this logic without external libraries so it can run fully offline in any modern browser.

The following long-form explanation explores the history of electronic mail, the evolution of addressing standards, and the practical considerations behind validation. It also covers edge cases such as quoted strings, internationalized domains, and plus addressing. The narrative is intentionally expansive—exceeding one thousand words—to provide thorough context for curious readers and developers.

Email emerged in the early days of networked computing, allowing messages to be sent between users on time-shared systems. As networks expanded and the ARPANET grew, there was a need for a uniform addressing scheme. The format user@host became common, leading to the at symbol being chosen as a separator because it rarely appeared in names. RFC 822 codified the syntax in 1982, and RFC 5322 later refined it, adding support for comments and folding whitespace. Over time, the mailbox name became known as the local part, and the host name evolved into the domain. Domains themselves are governed by the Domain Name System (DNS), which imposes length limits and character rules. Each label in a domain must be between one and sixty‑three characters, may contain letters, digits, and hyphens, and cannot begin or end with a hyphen. The overall domain cannot exceed two hundred fifty‑five characters. Top‑level domains like .com or .org signify broad categories or regions.

While the majority of addresses fall into the basic pattern, the standard permits far more complexity. Local parts may be quoted strings enclosed in double quotes, allowing characters that would otherwise be disallowed. An example is "john..doe"@example.com, which includes consecutive dots within a quoted string. Comments enclosed in parentheses can appear outside or even within addresses, though they are rarely used in practice. Furthermore, internationalized domain names can include non‑ASCII characters when encoded with Punycode. Our lightweight validator opts not to cover these exotic scenarios; instead it targets the vast majority of everyday addresses, balancing correctness with simplicity.

Users and service providers often employ conventions atop the standard. Plus addressing appends a plus sign and arbitrary tag to the local part, enabling automatic filtering. For instance, alice+shopping@example.com and alice+newsletters@example.com both route to alice@example.com, yet can be sorted into separate folders. Another convention involves dots within Gmail addresses: Google ignores dots in the local part, meaning first.last@gmail.com and firstlast@gmail.com reach the same inbox. Despite these conveniences, the underlying address still must conform to the fundamental syntax enforced by the validator.

Understanding these rules helps explain why some addresses are rejected by sign‑up forms or bounce back as undeliverable. A missing at symbol or trailing period violates the basic structure. Consecutive dots or illegal characters like spaces and commas will also fail validation. Yet, overly strict validators can cause trouble by rejecting perfectly legitimate addresses. For example, some forms refuse plus signs or uncommon top‑level domains, even though both are permitted. The regular expression employed here is intentionally permissive within the bounds of the standard, demonstrating a balanced approach.

From a security perspective, validating email addresses can mitigate user error and reduce the risk of malicious input. However, validation alone cannot guarantee that an address corresponds to a real mailbox. Verification typically requires sending a confirmation message or using protocols like SMTP or domain‑based services. Nonetheless, client‑side validation improves user experience by catching obvious mistakes before a form is submitted to a server.

The design of this page follows the aesthetic of other tools in the collection, employing a clean layout with minimal dependencies. All logic executes in the browser, and no external network requests are made. The regular expression is evaluated within the submit handler, and the result text updates accordingly. Users can experiment with different strings to understand what is allowed. The table above offers a quick reference of typical valid and invalid samples, but countless other combinations exist. Developers adapting this code may wish to tailor the pattern to their audience, tightening or loosening restrictions as necessary.

Now let us embark on a detailed exploration of the constituent parts of an address. The local part, appearing before the at sign, traditionally represented a username on a particular host. In multiuser systems, this might map to a mailbox file in a home directory. With the advent of hosted email services, the local part often corresponds to a user account managed by a provider. According to the standard, it may contain letters, digits, and a set of special characters: !#$%&'*+-/=?^_`{|}~. Dots may separate words or initials, as in john.smith. Consecutive dots are not allowed outside of quoted strings, and the local part cannot begin or end with a dot.

The domain portion maps to the mail server responsible for handling messages. Domains may be subdivided into subdomains, creating addresses like user@department.example.edu. Each label within the domain follows DNS rules: letters A–Z (case insensitive), digits 0–9, and hyphens. Labels cannot exceed sixty‑three characters, and the entire domain, including dots, cannot be longer than two hundred fifty‑five characters. Internationalized domains can represent characters outside the ASCII range using Punycode, which encodes them into a prefix xn-- followed by a transformed string. While the validator accepts such strings, it does not attempt to decode them.

Another layer of complexity stems from comments and whitespace. RFC 5322 permits comments enclosed in parentheses anywhere outside of quoted strings. For example, john.doe(comment)@example.com is formally valid. Folding whitespace allows line breaks for readability. These features rarely appear in modern usage, and because they complicate parsing, the regular expression used here deliberately excludes them. This choice reflects a practical focus: most users simply need to know whether a typical address is structurally sound, not whether it adheres to every obscure corner of the specification.

The regular expression in the script aims to capture this pragmatic subset. When the form is submitted, the script retrieves the input value and tests it against the pattern. If the result is true, the message “Valid email address” appears; otherwise, “Invalid email address” is displayed. The pattern checks for the presence of one and only one at symbol, ensures the local part consists of allowed characters, and validates that the domain is made of labels separated by single dots. Each label must begin and end with an alphanumeric character and may contain hyphens in between. The top‑level domain must be at least two characters long to avoid addresses like user@x.c, which are uncommon but technically permissible. Adapting the pattern for single‑character TLDs is straightforward if needed.

Let us illustrate with a few scenarios. When a user enters simple@example.com, the local part “simple” matches the allowed character set, the domain has one label “example” and a second “com,” each conforming to DNS rules, so the result is valid. Entering bad@@example.com fails because the pattern permits only one at symbol. Typing missing-at-symbol.com fails because the at sign is absent. Trying user@-example.com fails because a domain label cannot begin with a hyphen. The table above enumerates some of these cases for quick reference.

Beyond syntax, deliverability depends on the existence and configuration of the domain’s mail servers. MX records in DNS specify where mail should be routed. An address might pass the regex test but still bounce if the domain lacks an MX record or if the mailbox does not exist. Advanced validation might query DNS or perform SMTP handshakes, but such operations require server-side logic and network access, which this offline-focused tool intentionally avoids.

The world of email continues to evolve. Features like internationalized email (EAI) allow non‑ASCII characters in the local part, enabling addresses such as 用户@例子.公司. Implementing full EAI support demands Unicode-aware pattern matching and IDN processing. Another development is the use of disposable email addresses offered by some services; these addresses forward messages to a real inbox while keeping the user’s primary address private. The validator treats them as standard addresses because they follow the same syntax.

Security best practices recommend combining client-side validation with server-side checks and rate limiting to prevent abuse. Attackers may attempt to inject scripts or manipulate forms. Because this page runs entirely client-side with no network submission, the risk is minimal, but the principles apply when integrating similar code into production systems. Sanitizing output and avoiding direct insertion of user-provided addresses into HTML or SQL statements helps mitigate vulnerabilities.

To conclude, email address validation involves balancing adherence to formal specifications with real-world practicality. This page demonstrates a straightforward approach using a regular expression that captures the majority of common addresses. By offering a detailed explanation, historical background, and insights into edge cases, it equips users and developers with the knowledge to understand what the regex checks and what it omits. Experiment with different inputs to see how the validator responds, and consider how variations in the pattern might suit different applications.

Related Calculators