-- Michael Newbery Technology Manager Saturn Communications Tel: +64-4-939 5102 Mobile:021-642 957 Fax:+64-4-939 5100

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"2Day Chief Enthusiast" - 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* 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