names_and_emails_from_multiple_addresses.rb

  def names_and_emails_from_multiple_addresses(addresses)
    if addresses.is_a? String
      addresses = addresses.split(/,|;/)
    end
     
    addresses = addresses.collect do |address|
      next if address.blank?
      address = address.gsub('"','').gsub("'",'')

      matches = address.strip.scan(/(\w[^<\>]*)<(\b[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,10}\b)\>\z|\A<!--?((\b[A-Z0-9._%+-]+)@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,10}\b)-->?\z/i)
      
      if matches[0] && matches[0][1]
        email = matches[0][1]
        name = matches[0][0]
      elsif matches[0] && matches[0][2]
        email = matches[0][2]
        name = matches [0][3]
      else
        # Validating plain email addresses,
        simple_email_regex = /\b[-a-zA-Z0-9.'’_%+]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,10}\b/
        simple_email  = address.scan(simple_email_regex)
        if simple_email
          email = simple_email[0]
          name = ""
        end
    end
      unless email.blank? and name.blank?
        "#{name.gsub(/\./, ' ').titleize.strip} <#{email.downcase.strip}>".strip
      end
    end
    addresses.compact.uniq
  end