"Clayton Dukes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> How can I write code that will search the database and check the validity
of
> an email address, and if it's bad, to remove that entry from the database?
Like Tom said, use regex to check the email is of a valid format. A small
percentage of servers can be contacted to find whether an email address is
valid, but fewer and fewer are allowing this so it's completely unreliable.
You can use getmxrr() to see if a DNS MX record exists corresponding to the
domain. You'll need explode() to pull out the domain itself from the email
address. Unfortunately an email address can be valid without having a valid
MX record and also DNS could be unreachable at the exact moment your
requesting it. It might be better to bypass getmxrr() and use checkdnsrr()
instead to find whether the host exists. Of course this too could be
unreachable. If you really want to determine if an email address is valid,
a better strategy may be to send an email to the address with a unique
string in it that must be mailed back or a unique URL that must be visited.
You'd then need a script that's triggered upon receipt of matching emails
and changes a flag in your DB record to designate the email address as valid
or a script in the webpage that does the same.
--
Steve Werby
President, Befriend Internet Services LLC
http://www.befriend.com/
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