How to find a US zip code in a string using regular expression?

Question

Fill in the code to check if the text passed includes a possible U.S. zip code, formatted as follows: exactly 5 digits, and sometimes, but not always, followed by a dash with 4

Answer 1

You could use

(?!\A)\b\d{5}(?:-\d{4})?\b

Full code:

import re

def check_zip_code (text):
    m = re.search(r'(?!\A)\b\d{5}(?:-\d{4})?\b', text)
    return True if m else False

print(check_zip_code("The zip codes for New York are 10001 thru 11104.")) # True
print(check_zip_code("90210 is a TV show")) # False
print(check_zip_code("Their address is: 123 Main Street, Anytown, AZ 85258-0001.")) # True
print(check_zip_code("The Parliament of Canada is at 111 Wellington St, Ottawa, ON K1A0A9.")) # False

---

Meanwhile I found that there's a package called zipcodes which might be of additional help.

Answer 2

import re


def check_zip_code (text):
    return bool(re.search(r" (\b\d{5}(?!-)\b)| (\b\d{5}-\d{4}\b)", text))


assert check_zip_code("The zip codes for New York are 10001 thru 11104.") is True
assert check_zip_code("90210 is a TV show") is False
assert check_zip_code("Their address is: 123 Main Street, Anytown, AZ 85258-0001.") is True
assert check_zip_code("The Parliament of Canada is at 111 Wellington St, Ottawa, ON K1A0A9.") is False

assert check_zip_code("x\n90201") is False
assert check_zip_code("the zip somewhere is 98230-0000") is True
assert check_zip_code("the zip somewhere else is not 98230-00000000") is False