php preg_match with email validation issue

Question

I am validating email address using php with preg_match function. But I keep getting following error

preg_match(): No ending delimiter '^' found

here is my pattern for preg_match

$pattern = "^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$";

How to fix this?

Answer 1

Just use:

$pattern = "/^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,})$/i";

Answer 2

Maybe using

filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);

Would be an easier approach.