NAME Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex - regular expressions for handling British postcodes SYNOPSIS See Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex::Simple for an alternative interface. use Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex; ## REGULAR EXPRESSIONS my $lax_re = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->regex; my $strict_re = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->regex_strict; my $valid_re = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->valid_regex; # matching only if ( $foo =~ $lax_re ) {...} if ( $foo =~ $strict_re ) {...} if ( $foo =~ $valid_re ) {...} # matching and using components - see also parse() if ( $foo =~ $lax_re ) { my ( $area, $district, $sector, $unit ) = ( $1, $2, $3, $4 ); my $subdistrict = $district =~ s/([A-Z])$// ? $1 : undef; ... } if ( $foo =~ $strict_re ) { my ( $area, $district, $sector, $unit ) = ( $1, $2, $3, $4 ); my $subdistrict = $district =~ s/([A-Z])$// ? $1 : undef; ... } if ( $foo =~ $valid_re ) { my ( $outcode, $sector, $unit ) = ( $1, $2, $3 ); ... } ## VALIDATION METHODS use Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex qw( is_valid_pc is_strict_pc is_lax_pc ); if (is_valid_pc("GE0 1UK")) { ... } if (is_strict_pc("GE0 1UK")) { ... } if (is_lax_pc("GE0 1UK")) { ... } ## PARSING my $parsed = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->parse("WC1H 9EB"); # returns: # { area => 'WC', # district => '1', # subdistrict => 'H', # sector => '9', # unit => 'EB', # outcode => 'WC1H', # incode => '9EB', # valid => 1, # strict => 1, # partial => 0, # non_geographical => 0, # bfpo => 0, # } # strict parsing (only valid characters): ...->parse( $pc, { strict => 1 } ) # valid outcodes only ...->parse( $pc, { valid => 1 } ) # match partial postcodes, e.g. 'WC1H', 'WC1H 9' - see below ...->parse( $pc, { partial => 1 } ) ## PARSING PARTIAL POSTCODES # outcode (district) only my $parsed = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->parse( "AB10", { partial => 1 } ); # returns: # { area => 'AB', # district => '10', # subdistrict => undef, # sector => undef, # unit => undef, # outcode => 'AB10', # incode => undef, # valid => 1, # strict => 1, # partial => 1, # non_geographical => 0, # bfpo => 0, # } # sector only my $parsed = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->parse( "AB10 1", { partial => 1 } ); # returns: # { area => 'AB', # district => '10', # subdistrict => undef, # sector => 1, # unit => undef, # outcode => 'AB10', # incode => '1', # valid => 1, # strict => 1, # partial => 1, # non_geographical => 0, # bfpo => 0, # } ## EXTRACT OUTCODE FROM POSTCODE my $outcode = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcode("AB101AA"); # returns 'AB10' my $outcode = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcode( $postcode, { valid => 1 } ) or die "Invalid postcode"; ## EXTRACT POSTCODES FROM TEXT # \%options as per parse, excluding partial my @extracted = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->extract( $text, \%options ); ## POSTTOWNS my @posttowns = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcode_to_posttowns($outcode); ## OUTCODES my @outcodes = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->posttown_to_outcodes($posttown); DESCRIPTION Parsing UK postcodes with regular expressions. This package has been separated from Geo::UK::Postcode so it can be installed and used with fewer dependencies. Can handle partial postcodes (just the outcode or sector) and can test against valid characters and currently valid outcodes. Also can determine the posttown(s) from a postcode. Districts and post town information taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcode_districts IMPORTANT CHANGES FOR VERSION 0.014 Please note that various bugfixes have changed the following: * Unanchored regular expressions no longer match valid postcodes within invalid ones. * Unanchored regular expressions in partial mode now can match a valid or strict outcode with an invalid incode. Please get in touch if you have any questions. See Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex::Simple for other changes affecting the Simple interface. NOTES AND LIMITATIONS When parsing a partial postcode, whitespace may be required to separate the outcode from the sector. For example the sector 'B1 1' cannot be distinguished from the district 'B11' without whitespace. This is not a problem when parsing full postcodes. VALIDATION METHODS The following methods are for validating postcodes to various degrees. Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex::Simple may provide a more convenient way of using and customising these. regex, strict_regex, valid_regex Return regular expressions to parse postcodes and capture the constituent parts: area, district, sector and unit (or outcode, sector and unit in the case of valid_regex). strict_regex checks that the postcode only contains valid characters according to the postcode specifications. valid_regex checks that the outcode currently exists. regex_partial, strict_regex_partial, valid_regex_partial As above, but matches on partial postcodes of just the outcode or sector is_valid_pc, is_strict_pc, is_lax_pc if (is_valid_pc( "AB1 2CD" ) ) { ... } Alternative way to access the regexes. PARSING METHODS The following methods are for parsing postcodes or strings containing postcodes. PARSING_OPTIONS The parsing methods can take the following options, passed via a hashref: strict Postcodes must not contain invalid characters according to the postcode specification. For example a 'Q' may not appear as the first character. valid Postcodes must contain an outcode (area + district) that currently exists, in addition to conforming to the strict definition. Returns false if string is not a currently existing outcode. partial Allows partial postcodes to be matched. In practice this means either an outcode ( area and district ) or an outcode together with the sector. extract my @extracted = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->extract( $string, \%options ); Returns a list of full postcodes extracted from a string. parse my $parsed = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->parse( $pc, \%options ); Returns hashref of the constituent parts - see SYNOPSIS. Missing parts will be set as undefined. outcode my $outcode = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcode( $pc, \%options ); Extract the outcode (area and district) from a postcode string. Will work on full or partial postcodes. LOOKUP METHODS outcode_to_posttowns my ( $posttown1, $posttown2, ... ) = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcode_to_posttowns($outcode); Returns posttown(s) for supplied outcode. Note - most outcodes will only have one posttown, but some are shared between two posttowns. posttown_to_outcodes my @outcodes = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->posttown_to_outcodes($posttown); Returns the outcodes covered by a posttown. Note some outcodes are shared between posttowns. outcodes_lookup my %outcodes = %{ Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcodes_lookup }; print "valid outcode" if $outcodes{$outcode}; my @posttowns = @{ $outcodes{$outcode} }; Hashref of outcodes to posttown(s); posttowns_lookup my %posttowns = %{ Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->posttowns_lookup }; print "valid posttown" if $posttowns{$posttown}; my @outcodes = @{ $[posttowns{$posttown} }; Hashref of posttown to outcode(s); SEE ALSO * Geo::UK::Postcode * Geo::Address::Mail::UK * Geo::Postcode * Data::Validation::Constraints::Postcode * CGI::Untaint::uk_postcode * Form::Validator::UKPostcode SUPPORT Bugs / Feature Requests Please report any bugs or feature requests through the issue tracker at https://github.com/mjemmeson/geo-uk-postcode-regex/issues. You will be notified automatically of any progress on your issue. Source Code This is open source software. The code repository is available for public review and contribution under the terms of the license. https://github.com/mjemmeson/geo-uk-postcode-regex git clone git://github.com/mjemmeson/geo-uk-postcode-regex.git AUTHOR Michael Jemmeson COPYRIGHT Copyright 2015- Michael Jemmeson LICENSE This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.