NAME
Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex - regular expressions for handling British postcodes
VERSION
version 0.002
SYNOPSIS
use Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex;
## REGULAR EXPRESSIONS
my $strict_re = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->regex_strict;
my $loose_re = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->regex;
## PARSING
my $parsed = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->parse( "WC1H 9EB" );
# returns:
# { area => 'WC',
# district => '1',
# subdistrict => 'H',
# sector => '9',
# unit => 'EB',
# }
# strict parsing (only valid characters):
...->parse( $pc, { strict => 1 } )
# valid outcodes only
...->parse( $pc, { valid => 1 } )
# match partial postcodes, e.g. 'WC1H', 'WC1H 9'
...->parse( $pc, { partial => 1 } )
## EXTRACT OUTCODE
my $outcode = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcode( "AB101AA" );
# returns:
# 'AB10'
## POSTTOWNS
my (@posttowns) = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->posttowns( $pc );DESCRIPTION
Parsing UK postcodes with regular expressions. This package can be used separately to avoid the overhead of loading any dependencies.
Can handle partial postcodes (just the outcode or sector) and can test against valid characters and currently valid outcodes.
Also can determine the posttown(s) from a postcode.
Districts and post town information taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcode_districts
METHODS
strict_regex, regex
Return regular expressions to parse postcodes and capture the constituent parts (area, district, sector and unit).
The strict regex checks that for valid characters according to the postcode specifications.
strict_regex_partial, regex_partial
As above, but matches on partial postcodes of just the outcode or sector
parse
my $parsed = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->parse( $pc, \%opts );Returns hashref of the constituent parts.
Options:
- strict
-
Returns false if string contains invalid characters (e.g. a Q as first letter)
- valid
-
Returns false if string is not a currently existing outcode.
- partial
-
Allows partial postcodes to be matched. In practice this means either an outcode ( area and district ) or an outcode together with the sector .
outcode
my $outcode = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcode( $pc, \%opts );Extract the outcode (area and district) from a postcode string. Will work on full or partial postcodes.
Second argument is a hashref of options - see parse()
outcode_to_posttowns
my ( $posttown1, $posttown2, ... )
= Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->outcode_to_posttowns($outcode);Returns posttown(s) for supplied outcode.
Note - most outcodes will only have one posttown, but some are shared between two posttowns.
posttown_to_outcodes
my @outcodes = Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex->posttown_to_outcodes($posttown);Returns the outcodes covered by a posttown. Note some outcodes are shared between posttowns.
outcodes_lookup
my %outcodes = %{ Geo::UK::Postcodes::Regex->outcodes_lookup };
print "valid outcode" if $outcodes{$outcode};
my @posttowns = @{ $outcodes{$outcode} };Hashref of outcodes to posttown(s);
posttowns_lookup
my %posttowns = %{ Geo::UK::Postcodes::Regex->posttowns_lookup };
print "valid posttown" if $posttowns{$posttown};
my @outcodes = @{ $[posttowns{$posttown} };Hashref of posttown to outcode(s);
AUTHOR
Michael Jemmeson <mjemmeson@cpan.org>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2013 by Michael Jemmeson <mjemmeson@cpan.org>.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.