How do I validate the format of a MAC address?

Question

What\'s the best way to validate that an MAC address entered by the user?

The format is HH:HH:HH:HH:HH:HH, where each H is a hexadecimal ch

Answer 1

If you want to ensure that there is either '-' or ':' throughout but not both, you can use following in Python:

import re

def is_valid_macaddr802(value):
    allowed = re.compile(r"""
                         (
                             ^([0-9A-F]{2}[-]){5}([0-9A-F]{2})$
                            |^([0-9A-F]{2}[:]){5}([0-9A-F]{2})$
                         )
                         """,
                         re.VERBOSE|re.IGNORECASE)

    if allowed.match(value) is None:
        return False
    else:
        return True