Java regex email

Question

FWIW, here is the Java code we use to validate email addresses. The Regexp's are very similar:

public static final Pattern VALID_EMAIL_ADDRESS_REGEX = 
    Pattern.compile("^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\\.[A-Z]{2,6}$", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);

public static boolean validate(String emailStr) {
        Matcher matcher = VALID_EMAIL_ADDRESS_REGEX.matcher(emailStr);
        return matcher.find();
}

Works fairly reliably.

Here is RFC822 compliant regex adapted for Java:

Pattern ptr = Pattern.compile("(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*|(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)*\\<(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*(?:,@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*)*:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)?(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*\\>(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)|(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)*:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*|(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)*\\<(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*(?:,@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*)*:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)?(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*\\>(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:,\\s*(?:(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*|(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)*\\<(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:@(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*(?:,@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*)*:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)?(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\"(?:[^\\\"\\r\\\\]|\\\\.|(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t]))*\"(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*@(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*)(?:\\.(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*(?:[^()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\] \\000-\\031]+(?:(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])+|\\Z|(?=[\\[\"()<>@,;:\\\\\".\\[\\]]))|\\[([^\\[\\]\\r\\\\]|\\\\.)*\\](?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*\\>(?:(?:\\r\\n)?[ \\t])*))*)?;\\s*)");
String[] emails = { "\"Fred Bloggs\"@example.com", "[email protected]", "Chuck Norris <[email protected]>", "webmaster@müller.de", "[email protected]" };
for (String email : emails) {
    System.out.println(email + " is " + (ptr.matcher(email).matches() ? "valid" : "invalid"));
}

Output:

"Fred Bloggs"@example.com is valid
[email protected] is invalid
Chuck Norris <[email protected]> is valid
webmaster@müller.de is valid
[email protected] is valid

The regex is taken from this post: Mail::RFC822::Address: regexp-based address validation. The results should coincide with online version.

Don't. You will never end up with a valid expression.

For example these are all valid email addresses:

"Abc\@def"@example.com
"Fred Bloggs"@example.com
"Joe\\Blow"@example.com
"Abc@def"@example.com
customer/department=shipping@examp­ le.com
[email protected]
!def!xyz%[email protected]
[email protected]
matteo(this is a comment)[email protected]
root@[127.0.0.1]

Just to mention a few problems:

• you don't consider the many forms of specifying a host (e.g, by the IP address)
• you miss valid characters
• you miss non ASCII domain names

Before even beginning check the corresponding RFCs

That's because you are forgetting case insensitivity :

Pattern regex = Pattern.compile("\\b[\\w.%-]+@[-.\\w]+\\.[A-Za-z]{2,4}\\b");

This matches your example, although it ignores many valid e-mails.

One another simple alternative to validate 99% of emails

public static final String EMAIL_VERIFICATION = "^([\\w-\\.]+){1,64}@([\\w&&[^_]]+){2,255}.[a-z]{2,}$";

This is a valid regex for validating e-mails. It's totally compliant with RFC822 and accepts IP address and server names (for intranet purposes).

public static boolean isEmailValid(String email) {
    final Pattern EMAIL_REGEX = Pattern.compile("[a-z0-9!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+(?:.[a-z0-9!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+)*@(?:[a-z0-9](?:[a-z0-9-]*[a-z0-9])?.)+[a-z0-9](?:[a-z0-9-]*[a-z0-9])?", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
    return EMAIL_REGEX.matcher(email).matches();
}

Here are some output examples, when you call isEmailValid(emailVariable):

[email protected] // valid
[email protected] // valid
[email protected] // valid (with +label - Gmail accepts it!)
[email protected] // valid (with IP addresses)
[email protected] // valid (with +label and IP address)
john.foo@someserver // valid (with no first domain level)
[email protected] // valid (case insensitive)
@someserver // invalid
@someserver.com // invalid
john@. // invalid
[email protected] // invalid