Here are a few links that I found that show how to validate the e-mail address provided by checking with the recipient's server:
http://www.webdigi.co.uk/blog/2009/how-to-check-if-an-email-address-exists-without-sending-an-email/ <http://www.webdigi.co.uk/blog/2009/how-to-check-if-an-email-address-exists-without-sending-an-email/> http://www.barattalo.it/2009/12/27/validate-email-with-smtp/ <http://www.barattalo.it/2009/12/27/validate-email-with-smtp/> http://onwebdevelopment.blogspot.com/2008/08/php-email-address-validation-through.html <http://onwebdevelopment.blogspot.com/2008/08/php-email-address-validation-through.html>-- Rob On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 9:16 PM, Rob Scott <[email protected]> wrote: > To test if an e-mail address is "legitimate" could mean a few things: > > 1. That the e-mail address *syntax* is correct - meaning that the > address entered is valid per the RFC that sets guidelines for such things. > This article looks useful for determining is an e-mail address > is syntactically correct using PHP: > http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9585 > > 2. That the e-mail address is actually real - meaning you could send an > e-mail to it and it would be accepted. The only way to do this would be to > create a program that connects to the mail server responsible for handling > mail for the address provided, and seeing how it responds to the RCPT TO > smtp command. If the server responds with a positive acknowledgement to > RCPT > TO (250), then it is telling you that it will accept mail for that > recipient. Unfortunately, this is not always 100% accurate - some servers > will accept mail for *any* address at their domain, and then bounce the > message asynchronously. Microsoft Exchange servers are typically setup to > handle mail this way by default, but can be configured to reject > the recipient during the SMTP conversation. I imagine that someone has > built > an e-mail address validator that does this, but I couldn't find any by > briefly searching on Google. > > HTH, > > -- Rob > > On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 7:25 PM, Luis Torres <[email protected]>wrote: > >> As Dan pinted out this is not possible anymore for remote hosts. >> >> Depending on permissions it might be an option for local accounts in a >> *nix system but checking might only add complexity to your task so I'd steer >> away from it. >> >> Good luck, >> >> LT >> >> >> On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 5:31 PM, Dan Brown <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> My understanding is that what you're looking for isn't available any >>> more. You used to be able to send a command to a mail server and get a >>> response back indicating if the address was valid or not. Spammers caught on >>> to that, however, and abused it to farm addresses, so most email servers now >>> ignore the command. You may have luck with some older mail servers, but it's >>> definitely not 100% reliable. >>> >>> -db >>> >>> Dan Brown >>> db interactive Inc. >>> >>> >>> dmmontana wrote: >>> >>>> I have a client with an e-mail sign-up form on their site. In addition >>>> to validating the syntax, they want to be able to determine on-the- >>>> spot if the entered e-mail address is legitimate. I've come across a >>>> couple of forms recently that do that but I can't remember where they >>>> were. >>>> >>>> I did find the following PHP code: >>>> http://code.google.com/p/php-smtp-email-validation/ >>>> . However, I haven't been able to successfully implement it (I'm a >>>> front end developer, not a programmer, and nothing I've tried has >>>> worked). Has anyone had any success with this or another solution? >>>> >>>> Thanks! >>>> >>>> >>> >>> -- >>> Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ >>> >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Refresh Austin" group. >>> >>> [ Posting ] >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >>> Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy >>> We do not accept job posts from recruiters. >>> >>> [ Unsubscribe ] >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]<refresh-austin%[email protected]> >>> >>> [ More Info ] >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin >>> >> >> -- >> Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Refresh Austin" group. >> >> [ Posting ] >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy >> We do not accept job posts from recruiters. >> >> [ Unsubscribe ] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]<refresh-austin%[email protected]> >> >> [ More Info ] >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin >> > > -- Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Refresh Austin" group. [ Posting ] To post to this group, send email to [email protected] Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy We do not accept job posts from recruiters. [ Unsubscribe ] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] [ More Info ] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin
