NAME Geo::UK::Postcode - Object and class methods for working with British postcodes. SYNOPSIS # See Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex for parsing/matching postcodes use Geo::UK::Postcode; my $pc = Geo::UK::Postcode->new("wc1h9eb"); $pc->raw; # wc1h9eb - as entered $pc->as_string; # WC1H 9EB - output in correct format "$pc"; # stringifies, same output as '->as_string' $pc->fixed_format; # 8 characters, the incode always last three $pc->area; # WC $pc->district; # 1 $pc->subdistrict; # H $pc->sector; # 9 $pc->unit; # EB $pc->outcode; # WC1H $pc->incode; # 9EB $pc->strict; # true if matches strict regex $pc->valid; # true if matches strict regex and has a valid outcode $pc->partial; # true if postcode is for a district or sector only $pc->non_geographical; # true if outcode is known to be # non-geographical # Sort Postcode objects: use Geo::UK::Postcode qw/ pc_sort /; my @sorted_pcs = sort pc_sort @unsorted_pcs; DESCRIPTION An object to represent a British postcode. For matching and parsing postcodes in a non-OO manner (for form validation, for example), see Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex For geo-location (finding latitude and longitude) see "GEO-LOCATING POSTCODES". Currently undef development - feedback welcome. Basic API unlikely to change greatly, just more features/more postcodes supported - see "TODO" list. ATTRIBUTES raw The exact string that the object was constructed from, without formatting. METHODS raw as_string $pc->as_string; # or: "$pc"; Stringification of postcode object, returns postcode with a single space between outcode and incode. fixed_format my $fixed_format = $postcode->fixed_format; Returns the full postcode in a fixed length (8 character) format, with extra padding spaces inserted as necessary. area, district, subdistrict, sector, unit Return the corresponding part of the postcode, undef if not present. outcode The first half of the postcode, before the space - comprises of the area and district. incode The second half of the postcode, after the space - comprises of the sector and unit. Returns an empty string if not present. outward, inward Aliases for "outcode" and "incode". valid if ($pc->valid) { ... } Returns true if postcode has valid outcode and matches strict regex. partial if ($pc->partial) { ... } Returns true if postcode is not a full postcode, either a postcode district ( e . g . AB10 ) or postcode sector (e.g. AB10 1). strict if ($pc->strict) { ... } Returns true if postcode matches strict regex, meaning all characters are valid ( although postcode might not exist ) . non_geographical if ($pc->non_geographical) { ... } Returns true if the outcode is known to be non-geographical. Note that geographical outcodes may have non-geographical postcodes within them. (Non-geographical postcodes are used for PO Boxes, or organisations receiving large amounts of post). bfpo if ($pc->bfpo) { ... } Returns true if postcode is mapped to a BFPO number (British Forces Post Office). posttowns my (@posttowns) = $postcode->posttowns; Returns list of one or more posttowns that this postcode is assigned to. EXPORTABLE pc_sort my @sorted_pcs = sort pc_sort @unsorted_pcs; Exportable sort function, sorts postcode objects in a useful manner. The sort is in the following order: area, district, subdistrict, sector, unit (ascending alphabetical or numerical order as appropriate). GEO-LOCATING POSTCODES Postcodes can be geolocated by obtaining the Ordnance Survey 'Code-Point' data (or the free 'Code-Point Open' data). For full details of using this class with Code-Point data, see: Geo::UK::Postcode::Manual::Geolocation. SEE ALSO * Geo::UK::Postcode::Regex * Geo::Address::Mail::UK * Geo::Postcode SUPPORT Bugs / Feature Requests Please report any bugs or feature requests through the issue tracker at . You will be notified automatically of any progress on your issue. Source Code This is open source software. The code repository is available for public review and contribution under the terms of the license. git clone git://github.com/mjemmeson/geo-uk-postcode.git AUTHOR Michael Jemmeson COPYRIGHT Copyright 2014- Michael Jemmeson LICENSE This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.