PO Box Validation

Question

Looking to validate PO Box but wanted to know if such validation existed. I have the Address field split into Address 1 and Address 2 (Where such PO, Apt, Suite info would go)

Answer 1

Let's go through it...

/         # Beginning of the regex
^         # Beginning of the string
\s*       # (Any whitespace)
((
  P       # Matches your P
  (OST)?  # Matches your ost
  .?      # Matches the space
  \s*     # (Any whitespace)
  O       # Expects an O - you don't have one. Regex failed.

Answer 2

As of now with your regex, the 'O' in 'OFFICE' is required. Try ^\s*((P(OST)?.?\s*(O(FF(ICE)?))?.?\s+(B(IN|OX))?)|B(IN|OX)) instead (grouping the 'O' in a conditional match).

EDIT: That should be /^\s*((P(OST)?.?\s*(O(FF(ICE)?)?)?.?\s+(B(IN|OX))?)|B(IN|OX))/i instead. BTW, http://rubular.com/ is a pretty good regular expression testing engine. Always nice to know of new tools :)

Answer 3

This one works better, as it removes the unneeded groups in the match set and just returns the whole match.

Skips Post 123:

/^\s*((?:P(?:OST)?.?\s*(?:O(?:FF(?:ICE)?)?)?.?\s*(?:B(?:IN|OX)?)+)+|(?:B(?:IN|OX)+\s+)+)\s*\d+/i

Doesn't Skip Post 123:

/^\s*((?:P(?:OST)?.?\s*(?:O(?:FF(?:ICE)?)?)?.?\s*(?:B(?:IN|OX)?)?)+|(?:B(?:IN|OX)+\s+)+)\s*\d+/i

Remove the \d+ at the end to skip the number requirement.