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Email::Address(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Email::Address(3)

NAME
Email::Address - RFC 2822 Address Parsing and Creation

SYNOPSIS
use Email::Address;

my @addresses = Email::Address->parse($line);
my $address = Email::Address->new(Casey => 'casey@localhost');

print $address->format;

VERSION
version 1.886

$Id: Address.pm 881 2007-12-19 22:08:35Z rjbsATcpan.org $

DESCRIPTION
This class implements a regex-based RFC 2822 parser that locates email addresses in strings and returns a list of
"Email::Address" objects found. Alternatley you may construct objects manually. The goal of this software is to be
correct, and very very fast.

Package Variables
Several regular expressions used in this package are useful to others. For convenience, these variables are declared as
package variables that you may access from your program.

These regular expressions conform to the rules specified in RFC 2822.

You can access these variables using the full namespace. If you want short names, define them yourself.

my $addr_spec = $Email::Address::addr_spec;

$Email::Address::addr_spec
This regular expression defined what an email address is allowed to look like.

$Email::Address::angle_addr
This regular expression defines an $addr_spec wrapped in angle brackets.

$Email::Address::name_addr
This regular expression defines what an email address can look like with an optional preceeding display name, also
known as the "phrase".

$Email::Address::mailbox
This is the complete regular expression defining an RFC 2822 emial address with an optional preceeding display name
and optional following comment.

Class Methods
parse
my @addrs = Email::Address->parse(
q[me@local, Casey <me@local>, "Casey" <me@local> (West)]
);

This method returns a list of "Email::Address" objects it finds in the input string.

The specification for an email address allows for infinitley nestable comments. That's nice in theory, but a little
over done. By default this module allows for two (2) levels of nested comments. If you think you need more, modify
the $Email::Address::COMMENT_NEST_LEVEL package variable to allow more.

$Email::Address::COMMENT_NEST_LEVEL = 10; # I'm deep

The reason for this hardly limiting limitation is simple: efficiency.

Long strings of whitespace can be problematic for this module to parse, a bug which has not yet been adequately
addressed. The default behavior is now to collapse multiple spaces into a single space, which avoids this problem.
To prevent this behavior, set $Email::Address::COLLAPSE_SPACES to zero. This variable will go away when the bug is
resolved properly.

new
my $address = Email::Address->new(undef, 'casey@local');
my $address = Email::Address->new('Casey West', 'casey@local');
my $address = Email::Address->new(undef, 'casey@local', '(Casey)');

Constructs and returns a new "Email::Address" object. Takes four positional arguments: phrase, email, and comment,
and original string.

The original string should only really be set using "parse".

purge_cache
Email::Address->purge_cache;

One way this module stays fast is with internal caches. Caches live in memory and there is the remote possibility
that you will have a memory problem. In the off chance that you think you're one of those people, this class method
will empty those caches.

I've loaded over 12000 objects and not encountered a memory problem.

disable_cache
enable_cache
Email::Address->disable_cache if memory_low();

If you'd rather not cache address parses at all, you can disable (and reenable) the Email::Address cache with these
methods. The cache is enabled by default.

Instance Methods
phrase
my $phrase = $address->phrase;
$address->phrase( "Me oh my" );

Accessor and mutator for the phrase portion of an address.

address
my $addr = $address->address;
$addr->address( "meATPROTECTED.com" );

Accessor and mutator for the address portion of an address.

comment
my $comment = $address->comment;
$address->comment( "(Work address)" );

Accessor and mutator for the comment portion of an address.

original
my $orig = $address->original;

Accessor for the original address found when parsing, or passed to "new".

host
my $host = $address->host;

Accessor for the host portion of an address's address.

user
my $user = $address->user;

Accessor for the user portion of an address's address.

format
my $printable = $address->format;

Returns a properly formatted RFC 2822 address representing the object.

name
my $name = $address->name;

This method tries very hard to determine the name belonging to the address. First the "phrase" is checked. If that
doesn't work out the "comment" is looked into. If that still doesn't work out, the "user" portion of the "address" is
returned.

This method does not try to massage any name it identifies and instead leaves that up to someone else. Who is it to
decide if someone wants their name capitalized, or if they're Irish?

Overloaded Operators
stringify
print "I have your email address, $address.";

Objects stringify to "format" by default. It's possible that you don't like that idea. Okay, then, you can change it
by modifying $Email:Address::STRINGIFY. Please consider modifying this package variable using "local". You might step
on someone else's toes if you don't.

{
local $Email::Address::STRINGIFY = 'address';
print "I have your address, $address.";
# geeknest.com
}
print "I have your address, $address.";
# "Casey West" <caseyATgeeknest.com>

Did I Mention Fast?
On his 1.8GHz Apple MacBook, rjbs gets these results:

$ perl -Ilib bench/ea-vs-ma.pl bench/corpus.txt 5
Rate Mail::Address Email::Address
Mail::Address 2.59/s -- -44%
Email::Address 4.59/s 77% --

$ perl -Ilib bench/ea-vs-ma.pl bench/corpus.txt 25
Rate Mail::Address Email::Address
Mail::Address 2.58/s -- -67%
Email::Address 7.84/s 204% --

$ perl -Ilib bench/ea-vs-ma.pl bench/corpus.txt 50
Rate Mail::Address Email::Address
Mail::Address 2.57/s -- -70%
Email::Address 8.53/s 232% --

...unfortunately, a known bug causes a loss of speed the string to parse has certain known characteristics, and disabling
cache will also degrade performance.

PERL EMAIL PROJECT
This module is maintained by the Perl Email Project

<http://emailproject.perl.org/wiki/Email::Address>