/ 
Lingua-EN-AddressParse-1.22
River stage one • 1 direct dependent • 1 total dependent
/ Lingua::EN::AddressParse

NAME

Lingua::EN::AddressParse - manipulate geographical addresses

SYNOPSIS

use Lingua::EN::AddressParse;

my %args =
(
  country     => 'Australia',
  auto_clean  => 1,
  force_case  => 1,
  abbreviate_subcountry => 0,
  abbreviated_subcountry_only => 1,
  force_post_code => 0
);

my $address = Lingua::EN::AddressParse->new(%args);
$error = $address->parse(
   "UNIT 2A 14-16 OLD SOUTH HEAD ST ST JOHNS WOOD NSW 2021 AUSTRALIA : HOLD MAIL");

%my_address = $address->components;
print $my_address{sub_property_identifier}; # UNIT 2A
print $my_address{property_identifier};     # 14-16

print $my_address{suburb};                  # ST JOHNS WOOD

%my_formatted_address = $address->case_components;
print $my_formatted_address{street_name};        # Old South Head
print $my_formatted_address{street_type};   # St

%address_properties = $address->properties;
print $address_properties{type};            # suburban
print $address_properties{non_matching};    # : HOLD MAIL

$correct_casing = $address->case_all;

DESCRIPTION

This module takes as input a suburban, rural or postal address in free format text such as,

2A LOW ST KEW NSW 2123
12/3-5 AUBREY ST MOUNT VICTORIA VICTORIA 3133
"OLD REGRET" WENTWORTH FALLS NSW 2782 AUSTRALIA
GPO Box K318, HAYMARKET, NSW 2000

3080 28TH AVE N ST PETERSBURG, FL 33713-3810
12 1st Avenue N Suite # 2 Somewhere CA 12345 USA
C/O JOHN, KENNETH JR POA 744 WIND RIVER DR SYLVANIA, OH 43560-4317

9 Church Street, Abertillery, Mid Glamorgan NP13 1DA
27 Bury Street, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 3QT

and attempts to parse it. If successful, the address is broken down into it's components and useful functions can be performed such as :

converting upper or lower case values to title case (2A Low St Kew NSW 2123)
extracting the addresses individual components      (2A,Low,St,KEW,NSW,2123)
determining the type of format the address is in    ('suburban')

If the address cannot be parsed you have the option of cleaning the address of bad characters, or extracting any portion that was parsed and the portion that failed.

This module can be used for analysing and improving the quality of lists of postal addresses.

DEFINITIONS

The following terms are used by AddressParse to define the components that can make up an address.

Pre cursor : C/O MR A Smith...
Sub property identifier : Level 1A Unit 2, Apartment B, Lot 12, Suite # 12 ...
Property Identifier : 12/66A, 24-34, 2A, 23B/12C, 12/42-44
Property name   : "Old Regret"
Post Box        : GP0 Box K123, LPO 2345, RMS 23 ...
Road Box        : RMB 24A, RMS 234 ...
Street Direction: North, SE, Sth. etc
Street name     : O'Hare, New South Head, The Causeway
Street type     : Road, Rd., St, Lane, Highway, Crescent, Circuit ...
Suburb          : Dee Why, St. John's Wood ...
Sub country     : NSW, New South Wales, ACT, NY, New Jersey AZ ...
Post (zip) code : 2062, 34532-1234, SG12A 9ET
Country         : Australia, UK, US or Canada

The main address formats currently supported are as follows. (a ? means the component is optional):

'suburban' : sub_property_identifier(?) property_identifier(?) street street_type suburb subcountry post_code(?)country(?)

OR for the USA
'suburban' : property_identifier(?) street street_type sub_property_identifier(?) suburb subcountry post_code(?) country(?)

'rural'    : property_name suburb subcountry post_code(?) country(?)
'post_box' : post_box suburb subcountry post_code(?) country(?)
'road_box' : road_box street street_type suburb subcountry post_code(?) country(?)
'road_box' : road_box suburb subcountry post_code(?) country(?)

All formats may contain a precursor

Refer to the component grammar defined in the Lingua::EN::AddressParse::Grammar module for a complete list of combinations.

METHODS

new

The new method creates an instance of an address object and sets up the grammar used to parse addresses. This must be called before any of the following methods are invoked. Note that the object only needs to be created once, and can be reused with new input data.

Various setup options may be defined in a hash that is passed as an optional argument to the new method.

my %args =
(
  country     => 'Australia',
  auto_clean  => 1,
  force_case  => 1,
  abbreviate_subcountry => 1,
  abbreviated_subcountry_only => 1,
  force_post_code => 1
);

my $address = Lingua::EN::AddressParse->new(%args);
country

The country argument must be specified. It determines the possible list of valid sub countries (states, counties etc, defined in the Locale::SubCountry module) and post code formats. Either the full name or abbreviation may be specified. The currently supported country names and codes are:

AU or Australia
CA or Canada
GB or United Kingdom
US or United States

All forms of upper/lower case are acceptable in the country's spelling. If a country name is supplied that the module doesn't recognise, it will die.

force_case (optional)

This option only applies to the case_all method, see below.

auto_clean (optional)

When this option is set to a positive value, the input string is 'cleaned' to try and normalise bad patterns. The type of cleaning includes

remove non alphanumeric characters
remove full stops
remove redundant white space
add missing space separators
expand abbreviations to more common forms
remove bracketed annotations
fix badly formed sub property identifiers
abbreviate_subcountry (optional)

When this option is set to a positive value, the sub country is forced to it's abbreviated form, so "New South Wales" becomes "NSW". If the sub country is already abbreviated then it's value is not altered.

abbreviated_subcountry_only (optional)

When this option is set to a positive value, only the abbreviated form of sub country is allowed, such as "NSW" and not "New South Wales". This will make parsing quicker and ensure that addresses comply with postal standards that normally permit only abbreviated sub countries.

It also avoids matching a sub_country name too early, as in the case of 'Port Washington New Jersey' Normally, 'Washington would be consumed as the sub country, but by first converting the address to 'Port Washington NJ' we avoid this problem

force_post_code (optional)

When this option is set to a positive value, the address must contain a post code. If it does not then an error flag is raised. If this option is set to 0 than a post code is optional.

By default for this option is true.

parse

$error = $address->parse("12/3-5 AUBREY ST VERMONT VIC 3133");

The parse method takes a single parameter of a text string containing a address. It attempts to parse the address and break it down into the components described below. If the address is parsed successfully, a 0 is returned, otherwise a 1.

Note that you can successfully parse all the components of an address and still have an error returned. This occurs when you have non matching data following a valid address. To check if the data is unusable, you also need to use the properties method to check the address type is 'unknown'

This method is a prerequisite for all the following methods.

components

%address = $address->components;
$suburb = $address{suburb};

The components method returns all the address components in a hash. The following keys are used for each component:

pre_cursor - such as 'C/O Mr A Smith'
po_box_type - such as 'Private Boxes'
post_box
road_box
sub_property_identifier
property_identifier
property_name
street_direction_prefix (such as East, NW, North etc)
base_street_name (the name with direction removed, such as "Main" in "East Main St")
street_name (the full street name such as "East Main")
street_type
street_direction_suffix (US only, abbreviated only such as N, SE etc)
suburb
subcountry
post_code
country

If a component has no matching data for a given address, it's values will be set to the empty string.

case_components

%my_address = $address->case_components;
$cased_suburb = $my_address{suburb};

The case_components method does the same thing as the components method, but each component is converted to title case, meaning the first letter of each component is set to capitals and the remainder to lower case.

Proper name capitalisations such as MacNay and O'Brien are observed

The following components are not converted to title case:

post_box
road_box
subcountry
post_code
country
street_direction_suffix

case_all

$correct_casing = $address->case_all;

The case_all method does the same thing as the case_components method except the entire address is returned as a title cased text string.

If the force_case option was set in the new method above, address case the entire input string, including any unmatched sections after a recognisable address that failed parsing. This option is useful when you know you have invalid data, but you still want to title case what you have.

properties

The properties method return several properties of the address as a hash. The following keys are used for each property -

type - either suburban ,rural,post_box,road_box,unknown
non_matching - any trailing string not part the address

Additional properties can be accessed with the following

$address->{original_input}
$address->{input_string} - string after  auto_clean option has been applied
$address->{country_code} - abbreviated Country address format (as defined in the C<new> method)
$address->{error} - error flag, 0 = good, 1 = error
$address->{error_desc} - text to  to describe the type of parsing error

report

Create a formatted text report

the input string
the cleaned input string
the country type
the address type
any non matching part of input string
if any parsing errors occurred
error description

the name and value of each defined component

Returns a string containing a multi line formatted text report

DEPENDANCIES

Lingua::EN::NameParse, Locale::SubCountry, Parse::RecDescent

BUGS

LIMITATIONS

Streets such as 'The Esplanade' will return a street of 'The Esplanade' and a street type of null string.

For US addresses, an ambiguity arises between a street directional suffix and a suburb directional prefix, such as '12 Main St S Springfield CA 92345'. Is it South Main St, or South Springfield? The parser assumes that 'S' belongs to the street description.

The huge number of character combinations that can form a valid address makes it is impossible to correctly identify them all.

Valid addresses must contain:

property address, suburb,  subcountry (aka state) in that order.

This format is widely accepted in Australia and the US.

UK addresses will often include suburb, town, city and county, formats that are very difficult to parse.

Property names must be enclosed in single or double quotes like "Old Regret"

Because of the large combination of possible addresses defined in the grammar, the program is not very fast.

REFERENCES

"The Wordsworth Dictionary of Abbreviations & Acronyms" (1997)

Australian Standard AS4212-1994 "Geographic Information Systems - Data Dictionary for transfer of street addressing information"

ISO 3166-2:1998, Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions. Also released as AS/NZS 2632.2:1999

SEE ALSO

AddressParse is designed to identify properties, which have a unique physical location. Geo::StreetAddress::US will also parse addresses for the USA, and can handle locations defined by street intersections, such as: "Hollywood & Vine, Los Angeles, CA" "Mission Street at Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA"

L<Lingua::EN::NameParse>
L<Geo::StreetAddress::US>
L<Parse::RecDescent>
L<Locale::SubCountry>

See http://www.upu.int/post_code/en/postal_addressing_systems_member_countries.shtml for a list of different addressing formats from around the world. And also http://www.bitboost.com/ref/international-address-formats.html

TO DO

Define grammar for other languages. Hopefully, all that would be needed is to specify a new module with its own grammar, and inherit all the existing methods. I don't have the knowledge of the naming conventions for non-english languages.

AUTHOR

AddressParse was written by Kim Ryan <kimryan at cpan d o t org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2015 Kim Ryan. All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.