regex for zip-code

Question

Possible Duplicate:
What is the ultimate postal code and zip regex?

I need Regex which can satisfy all my thr

Answer 1

For the listed three conditions only, these expressions might work also:

^\d{5}[-\s]?(?:\d{4})?$
^\[0-9]{5}[-\s]?(?:[0-9]{4})?$
^\[0-9]{5}[-\s]?(?:\d{4})?$
^\d{5}[-\s]?(?:[0-9]{4})?$

Please see this demo for additional explanation.

If we would have had unexpected additional spaces in between 5 and 4 digits or a continuous 9 digits zip code, such as:

123451234
12345 1234
12345  1234

this expression for instance would be a secondary option with less constraints:

^\d{5}([-]|\s*)?(\d{4})?$

Please see this demo for additional explanation.

RegEx Circuit

jex.im visualizes regular expressions:

Test

const regex = /^\d{5}[-\s]?(?:\d{4})?$/gm;
const str = `12345
12345-6789
12345 1234
123451234
12345 1234
12345  1234
1234512341
123451`;
let m;

while ((m = regex.exec(str)) !== null) {
    // This is necessary to avoid infinite loops with zero-width matches
    if (m.index === regex.lastIndex) {
        regex.lastIndex++;
    }
    
    // The result can be accessed through the `m`-variable.
    m.forEach((match, groupIndex) => {
        console.log(`Found match, group ${groupIndex}: ${match}`);
    });
}

Answer 2

^\d{5}(?:[-\s]\d{4})?$

• ^ = Start of the string.
• \d{5} = Match 5 digits (for condition 1, 2, 3)
• (?:…) = Grouping
• [-\s] = Match a space (for condition 3) or a hyphen (for condition 2)
• \d{4} = Match 4 digits (for condition 2, 3)
• …? = The pattern before it is optional (for condition 1)
• $ = End of the string.

Answer 3

I know this may be obvious for most people who use RegEx frequently, but in case any readers are new to RegEx, I thought I should point out an observation I made that was helpful for one of my projects.

In a previous answer from @kennytm:

^\d{5}(?:[-\s]\d{4})?$

…? = The pattern before it is optional (for condition 1)

If you want to allow both standard 5 digit and +4 zip codes, this is a great example.

To match only zip codes in the US 'Zip + 4' format as I needed to do (conditions 2 and 3 only), simply remove the last ? so it will always match the last 5 character group.

A useful tool I recommend for tinkering with RegEx is linked below:

https://regexr.com/

I use this tool frequently when I find RegEx that does something similar to what I need, but could be tailored a bit better. It also has a nifty RegEx reference menu and informative interface that keeps you aware of how your changes impact the matches for the sample text you entered.

If I got anything wrong or missed an important piece of information, please correct me.