Simple Email Validator in Bash

email_validator_regex.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

#
# RFC standard of the email address could be found in rfc5322, rfc6854, etc.
#
# however, it is hard to escape all the special characters in the bash
# so, in this script, it will only check for the address syntax only
# having some valid/invalid inputs to test its result
#
# please be noted that, it is not design to detect mailbox deliverability
#

regex="^(([A-Za-z0-9]+((\.|\-|\_|\+)?[A-Za-z0-9]?)*[A-Za-z0-9]+)|[A-Za-z0-9]+)@(([A-Za-z0-9]+)+((\.|\-|\_)?([A-Za-z0-9]+)+)*)+\.([A-Za-z]{2,})+$"

valid_inputs=(
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "valid+1@ex_ample.com"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "valid+01@ex_ample.com"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "valid@e-x_ample.com"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
)

invalid_inputs=(
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "inv [email protected]"
  "invalid@exa mple.com"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@_"
  "invalid@com"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@example._com"
  "invalid@e-x._ample.com"
  "[email protected]_ample.com"
  "[email protected]_ample.com"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@example._"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@example.+"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@example."
  "[email protected]."
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@_.com"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@com"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@+com"
  "invalid@-com"
  "invalid@_com"
  "invalid@."
  "invalid@_"
  "invalid@-"
  "[email protected]"
  "@"
  ".@."
  "-@-"
  "_@_"
  "+@+"
  "a.@.."
  "@com"
  "@example.com"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
  "invalid@_123.com"
  "[email protected]"
  "[email protected]"
)

function validator {
  if [[ $1 =~ ${regex} ]]; then
    printf "* %-48s \e[1;32m[pass]\e[m\n" "${1}"
  else
    printf "* %-48s \e[1;31m[fail]\e[m\n" "${1}"
  fi
}

cat <<-EOF
a simple email address validator in bash

online validator: http://emailregex.com/

RFC Standards for email address
- https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc821
- https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322
- https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6854
- https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5321
- https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322#section-3.4

References:
- http://emailregex.com/email-validation-summary/
EOF

echo
echo "### expected result: valid"
echo

for input in "${valid_inputs[@]}"; do
  validator "${input}"
done

echo
echo "### expected result: invalid"
echo

for input in "${invalid_inputs[@]}"; do
  validator "${input}"
done

let's work again ;-)
now it is failing on this [email protected]

ps: Thank you for doing this. I really appreciate this tool.

@dnicolaev big thanks for hunting bugs in this script.

I've do some research for the RFC standards, and script updated.
please have a look for the latest script again.

the code is failing on this [email protected]

thanks this is too good it's very helpful

I have a question on a different problem for validation fo password
you have any pattern for that

@suraj9741 I've made some fixes for the validation rules according to the RFC standards.
but the address [email protected] is actually a valid address,
please have a look at the RFC standard definition. (RFC-5322, section 3.4 and section 3.4.1).

as for the part of password validation,
I think there's no validator available out there, password could in any character, in any format, isn't it?

@guessi according to this, you can have a valid email address with multiple @ characters in it.

@phpmoli interesting fact, but I'd prefer not to change this script for now. for the normal use case, we don't use multiple "@" in email address?

anyway, thanks for let me know 👍

Hey guys this is nice code :-) i find another bug :-)

He report this is wrong e-mail :-)
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Best Regards
TaKeN

invalid@user_in_domain.com is showing up as valid.

this fixed the problem:
regex="^(([A-Za-z0-9]+((.|-|_|+)?[A-Za-z0-9]?)[A-Za-z0-9]+)|[A-Za-z0-9]+)@(([A-Za-z0-9]+)+((.|-)?([A-Za-z0-9]+)+))+.([A-Za-z]{2,})+$"