After asking a related question, I became aware of a better method:
/// <summary>
/// Extracts email addresses in the following formats:
/// "Tom W. Smith" <[email protected]>
/// "Smith, Tom" <[email protected]>
/// Tom W. Smith <[email protected]>
/// [email protected]
/// Multiple emails can be separated by a comma or semicolon.
/// Watch out for <see cref="FormatException"/>s when enumerating.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="value">Collection of emails in the accepted formats.</param>
/// <returns>
/// A collection of <see cref="System.Net.Mail.MailAddress"/>es.
/// </returns>
/// <exception cref="ArgumentException">Thrown if the value is null, empty, or just whitespace.</exception>
public static IEnumerable<MailAddress> ExtractEmailAddresses(this string value)
{
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value)) throw new ArgumentException("The arg cannot be null, empty, or just whitespace.", "value");
// Remove commas inside of quotes
value = value.Replace(';', ',');
var emails = value.SplitWhilePreservingQuotedValues(',');
var mailAddresses = emails.Select(email => new MailAddress(email));
return mailAddresses;
}
/// <summary>
/// Splits the string while preserving quoted values (i.e. instances of the delimiter character inside of quotes will not be split apart).
/// Trims leading and trailing whitespace from the individual string values.
/// Does not include empty values.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="value">The string to be split.</param>
/// <param name="delimiter">The delimiter to use to split the string, e.g. ',' for CSV.</param>
/// <returns>A collection of individual strings parsed from the original value.</returns>
public static IEnumerable<string> SplitWhilePreservingQuotedValues(this string value, char delimiter)
{
Regex csvPreservingQuotedStrings = new Regex(string.Format("(\"[^\"]*\"|[^{0}])+", delimiter));
var values =
csvPreservingQuotedStrings.Matches(value)
.Cast<Match>()
.Select(m => m.Value.Trim())
.Where(v => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(v));
return values;
}
This method passes the following tests:
[TestMethod]
public void ExtractEmails_SingleEmail_Matches()
{
string value = "[email protected]";
var expected = new List<MailAddress>
{
new MailAddress("[email protected]"),
};
var actual = value.ExtractEmailAddresses();
CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expected, actual.ToList());
}
[TestMethod()]
public void ExtractEmails_JustEmailCSV_Matches()
{
string value = "[email protected]; [email protected]";
var expected = new List<MailAddress>
{
new MailAddress("[email protected]"),
new MailAddress("[email protected]"),
};
var actual = value.ExtractEmailAddresses();
CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expected, actual.ToList());
}
[TestMethod]
public void ExtractEmails_MultipleWordNameThenEmailSemicolonSV_Matches()
{
string value = "a a a <[email protected]>; a a a <[email protected]>";
var expected = new List<MailAddress>
{
new MailAddress("a a a <[email protected]>"),
new MailAddress("a a a <[email protected]>"),
};
var actual = value.ExtractEmailAddresses();
CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expected, actual.ToList());
}
[TestMethod]
public void ExtractEmails_JustEmailsSemicolonSV_Matches()
{
string value = "[email protected]; [email protected]";
var expected = new List<MailAddress>
{
new MailAddress("[email protected]"),
new MailAddress("[email protected]"),
};
var actual = value.ExtractEmailAddresses();
CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expected, actual.ToList());
}
[TestMethod]
public void ExtractEmails_NameInQuotesWithCommaThenEmailsCSV_Matches()
{
string value = "\"a, a\" <[email protected]>; \"a, a\" <[email protected]>";
var expected = new List<MailAddress>
{
new MailAddress("\"a, a\" <[email protected]>"),
new MailAddress("\"a, a\" <[email protected]>"),
};
var actual = value.ExtractEmailAddresses();
CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expected, actual.ToList());
}
[TestMethod]
[ExpectedException(typeof(ArgumentException))]
public void ExtractEmails_EmptyString_Throws()
{
string value = string.Empty;
var actual = value.ExtractEmailAddresses();
}
[TestMethod]
[ExpectedException(typeof(FormatException))]
public void ExtractEmails_NonEmailValue_ThrowsOnEnumeration()
{
string value = "a";
var actual = value.ExtractEmailAddresses();
actual.ToList();
}