ZIP (POSTAL) Code Validation Regex & PHP code for 12 Countries

August 14, 2011 PHP, Programming

For the last couple of years, I’ve been mostly doing PHP coding. As a result, I have small library of code snippets of my own. Those are simple but useful PHP codes that might save some time on your work!

First one I’m sharing here today is the combination of regular expression and the PHP code to do ZIP code (or Postal Code) validation for following 12 countries: United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Australia, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Sweden & Belgium.

Code is provided in PHP but the REGEX codes are universal and those can be used with other programming languages.

License

This code is free to use, distribute, modify and study. When referencing please link back to this website / post in any way e.g. direct link, credits etc. If you find this useful, please leave a comment and share using the buttons below!

<?php
$country_code = "US";
$zip_postal = "11111";

$ZIPREG = array(
    "US" => "^\d{5}([\-]?\d{4})?$",
    "UK" => "^(GIR|[A-Z]\d[A-Z\d]??|[A-Z]{2}\d[A-Z\d]??)[ ]??(\d[A-Z]{2})$",
    "DE" => "\b((?:0[1-46-9]\d{3})|(?:[1-357-9]\d{4})|(?:[4][0-24-9]\d{3})|(?:[6][013-9]\d{3}))\b",
    "CA" => "^([ABCEGHJKLMNPRSTVXY]\d[ABCEGHJKLMNPRSTVWXYZ])\ {0,1}(\d[ABCEGHJKLMNPRSTVWXYZ]\d)$",
    "FR" => "^(F-)?((2[A|B])|[0-9]{2})[0-9]{3}$",
    "IT" => "^(V-|I-)?[0-9]{5}$",
    "AU" => "^(0[289][0-9]{2})|([1345689][0-9]{3})|(2[0-8][0-9]{2})|(290[0-9])|(291[0-4])|(7[0-4][0-9]{2})|(7[8-9][0-9]{2})$",
    "NL" => "^[1-9][0-9]{3}\s?([a-zA-Z]{2})?$",
    "ES" => "^([1-9]{2}|[0-9][1-9]|[1-9][0-9])[0-9]{3}$",
    "DK" => "^([D-d][K-k])?( |-)?[1-9]{1}[0-9]{3}$",
    "SE" => "^(s-|S-){0,1}[0-9]{3}\s?[0-9]{2}$",
    "BE" => "^[1-9]{1}[0-9]{3}$"
);

if ($ZIPREG[$country_code])
{

    if (!preg_match("/" . $ZIPREG[$country_code] . "/i", $zip_postal))
    {
        //Validation failed, provided zip/postal code is not valid.
        
    }
    else
    {
        //Validation passed, provided zip/postal code is valid.
        
    }

}
else
{

    //Validation not available
    
}
?>

<?php

$country_code = "US";

$zip_postal = "11111";

$ZIPREG = array(

"US" => "^\d{5}([\-]?\d{4})?$",

"UK" => "^(GIR|[A-Z]\d[A-Z\d]??|[A-Z]{2}\d[A-Z\d]??)[ ]??(\d[A-Z]{2})$",

"DE" => "\b((?:0[1-46-9]\d{3})|(?:[1-357-9]\d{4})|(?:[4][0-24-9]\d{3})|(?:[6][013-9]\d{3}))\b",

"CA" => "^([ABCEGHJKLMNPRSTVXY]\d[ABCEGHJKLMNPRSTVWXYZ])\ {0,1}(\d[ABCEGHJKLMNPRSTVWXYZ]\d)$",

"FR" => "^(F-)?((2[A|B])|[0-9]{2})[0-9]{3}$",

"IT" => "^(V-|I-)?[0-9]{5}$",

"AU" => "^(0[289][0-9]{2})|([1345689][0-9]{3})|(2[0-8][0-9]{2})|(290[0-9])|(291[0-4])|(7[0-4][0-9]{2})|(7[8-9][0-9]{2})$",

"NL" => "^[1-9][0-9]{3}\s?([a-zA-Z]{2})?$",

"ES" => "^([1-9]{2}|[0-9][1-9]|[1-9][0-9])[0-9]{3}$",

"DK" => "^([D-d][K-k])?( |-)?[1-9]{1}[0-9]{3}$",

"SE" => "^(s-|S-){0,1}[0-9]{3}\s?[0-9]{2}$",

"BE" => "^[1-9]{1}[0-9]{3}$"

);

if ($ZIPREG[$country_code])

{

if (!preg_match("/" . $ZIPREG[$country_code] . "/i", $zip_postal))

{

//Validation failed, provided zip/postal code is not valid.

}

else

{

//Validation passed, provided zip/postal code is valid.

}

else

{

//Validation not available

}

12 Responses to ZIP (POSTAL) Code Validation Regex & PHP code for 12 Countries

Yogesh Singh
12 / 12 / 2018
Thank You
Regex working properly
Yogesh Singh 12 / 12 / 2018
Rakesh Vishnoi
2 / 23 / 2018
Thank you my brother :)
Rakesh Vishnoi 2 / 23 / 2018
Urvisha
7 / 30 / 2015
Thanks a lot. Saved my lots of time!!!! :)
Urvisha 7 / 30 / 2015
Nate
6 / 11 / 2015
Thank you! this is awesome!
Nate 6 / 11 / 2015
Geman
1 / 30 / 2015
Why does Italy has the V- prefix to the postal code? Isn’t neither the CEPT prefix nor the ISO one. Thanks
Geman 1 / 30 / 2015

Erdener Gonenc
1 / 31 / 2015
I ended up adding it based on my research at the time of coding, which was 7-8 years ago. As far as I remember, I stands for Italy & V stands for Vatican.
Erdener Gonenc 1 / 31 / 2015

Menno van der Krift
10 / 31 / 2014
Cheers. Just needed a Dutch zipcode validation for my school project. Took me a while, but i understand what it says in code now and adjusted it a bit for my personal needs.
Thanks for sharing the code :D
Menno van der Krift 10 / 31 / 2014
Stéphane
1 / 13 / 2014
{1] is useless…
and it depends of the data you read ^blablabla$
is useless too.
US formula is also accepting 12345-
Did not check more than a quick shot…
Stéphane 1 / 13 / 2014

John
5 / 15 / 2014
This is incorrect.
US formula does not accept 12345-
In other words it works.
John 5 / 15 / 2014

Mogsdad
9 / 27 / 2013
This `if ($ZIPREG[$country_code])` will generate a ‘Notice’ if an unsupported country is provided. Better to use `if (isset($ZIPREG[$country_code])` instead.
Mogsdad 9 / 27 / 2013
CNG2013
6 / 3 / 2013
Will this work for: “enter your zip to see if we deliver to your area”
CNG2013 6 / 3 / 2013

Erdener
6 / 3 / 2013
No, that’s for generic validity check.
Erdener 6 / 3 / 2013

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