Re: Annoying email addresses

-- Michael Newbery Technology Manager Saturn Communications Tel: +64-4-939 5102 Mobile:021-642 957 Fax:+64-4-939 5100
"2Day Chief Enthusiast" <peter(a)2day.com> - 31/5/99 10:57 AM >>> Does anybody know of the use of an ampersand character in an e-mail address is accepted as ok?
him&her(a)isp.com
I would have thought it quite bad form, but these larger free email services seem to allow almost anything ascii in an email address these days. The only reason I have a problem is I have a script somewhere in my world of technology that does not like them, and being Monday morning, I cant find it
No sympathy I'm afraid. From RFC822: address = mailbox ; one addressee / group ; named list mailbox = addr-spec ; simple address / phrase route-addr ; name & addr-spec addr-spec = local-part "@" domain ; global address local-part = word *("." word) ; uninterpreted ; case-preserved word = atom / quoted-string atom = 1*<any CHAR except specials, SPACE and CTLs> CHAR = <any ASCII character> ; ( 0-177, 0.-127.) specials = "(" / ")" / "<" / ">" / "@" ; Must be in quoted- / "," / ";" / ":" / "\" / <"> ; string, to use / "." / "[" / "]" ; within a word. Ampersand is not a 'special', so it's quite legal. When you find your script I hope you'll make sure it also copes with something . (note the white space and the comment (comments can nest) between the atoms) like-this* . "Is quite legal #@!!" @ liberals.are.us :-) The good news is that when you get down to it, it's very easy to write a parser for rfc822, if you base it on the production rules. BTW, pp 30-31 of RFC821 do not narrow the definition of address. In fact, rfc821/rfc822 are TOO restrictive, predating as they do UNICODE. There is no way to include non-Roman, or indeed accented characters, in an address, and no extension mechanism akin to HTML's %nn. --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog

Michael writes:
Ampersand is not a 'special', so it's quite legal. When you find your script I hope you'll make sure it also copes with something . (note the white space and the comment (comments can nest) between the atoms) like-this* . "Is quite legal #@!!" @ liberals.are.us
Only if you're talking header addresses. Envelope addresses have to be cut down to the bare essentials with unquoted whitespace and comments removed. So you don't have to deal with foo .bar but you do have to cope with "foo bar". Doesn't help on the '&' front tho; RFC 821 lists the same set of special characters as RFC 822. -- don --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog
participants (2)
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Don Stokes
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Michael Newbery