Apache commons email validator: allow plus character in e-mail

Question

using org.apache.commons.validator.routines.EmailValidator (1.7) for e-mail validation in Java.

In GMAIL a user is allowed to use myname+anything@gmail.com and it will go to myname@gmail.com. However, the EmailValidator does not allow the + character. I also tried replacing the + with %2b before validation but it also fails.

Any suggestions? Can I add an extra allowed character to my EmailValidator instance? Couldn't find this but guess I would need something like that.

Ps. I don't really want to go to custom regex for various reasons.

Answer 1

The Apache Commons EmailValidator does work with a plus sign.

import org.apache.commons.validator.routines.EmailValidator;

public class MapperMain {

public static void main(String[] args) {

    String email = "john+Williams@ennui.co.za";
    
    EmailValidator emailValidator = EmailValidator.getInstance();
    
    
    System.out.println(emailValidator.isValid(email));

}

}

Outputs:

true