What defines a valid POP3 account name?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Noozer
  • Start date Start date
N

Noozer

Hi!

I'm not having much luck with Google or the RFC website.

Can someone point to me a reference that defines what email account names
are or aren't valid for a POP3 email account?

Thanks!
 
Ick! : )

Not a programmer here, so reading regular expressions doesn't work for me.

Just trying to settle an argument about an email address.

(e-mail address removed) (a dot underscore bc at here dot com)

Is dot underscore a valid combination in the middle of an email address?
Trying to find the RFC or other rule that defines whether or not this type
of addres should be allowed.


BobC said:
Here are a couple:
http://www.regexlib.com/DisplayPatterns.aspx
Click to expand...
http://www.breakingpar.com/bkp/home.nsf/Doc?OpenNavigator&U=87256B280015193F87256C40004CC8C6
 
Ick! : )

Not a programmer here, so reading regular expressions doesn't work for me.

Just trying to settle an argument about an email address.

(e-mail address removed) (a dot underscore bc at here dot com)

Is dot underscore a valid combination in the middle of an email address?
Trying to find the RFC or other rule that defines whether or not this type
of addres should be allowed.
Click to expand...

The two that likely apply to your question are:

http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1034.html
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc974.html

882 and 883 also apply but are obsolete. :)

And basically, a valid email address currently consists of the
account, followed by the @ character, followed by the host/domain
which will answer with an appropriate MX record in DNS. Systems may
or may not be case sensitive, and alphanumeric characters will be
recognized as well as characters valid on the receiving system for the
account portion.

Beyond that, the RFC's don't state "This is the valid character set"
because it can be different based on the systems involved. And yes,
dots and underscores are honored by pretty much all current POP server
programs.

Jeff
 
Thanks everyone...

Now our admin is admitting that it is a valid address, but "to allow it's
use would make maintenance a nightmare!"

I love working at the cirus.

Thanks again!
 
Back
Top