Validate UK short (outward) postcode

I’m using this validator:

//validate postcode
function IsPostcode($postcode)
{
    $postcode = strtoupper(str_replace(' ','',$postcode));
    if(preg_match("/^[A-Z]{1,2}[0-9]{2,3}[A-Z]{2}$/",$postcode) || preg_match("/^[A-Z]{1,2}[0-9]{1}[A-Z]{1}[0-9]{1}[A-Z]{2}$/",$postcode) || preg_match("/^GIR0[A-Z]{2}$/",$postcode))
    {
        return true;
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}

From this link.

But I want to be able to validate postcodes like ME20 and TN10 instead of a full blown ME20 4RN, TN0 4RN. This is the part of the postcode known as the ‘outward code’.

Can someone help me out with the regex?

Answer

you can use my updated regex to solve you problem

it working from my end to validate UK zip code

<?php 
function IsPostcode($postcode)
{
    $postcode = strtoupper(str_replace(' ','',$postcode));
    if(preg_match("/(^[A-Z]{1,2}[0-9R][0-9A-Z]?[s]?[0-9][ABD-HJLNP-UW-Z]{2}$)/i",$postcode) || preg_match("/(^[A-Z]{1,2}[0-9R][0-9A-Z]$)/i",$postcode))
    {    
        return true;
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}

echo $result = IsPostcode('ME20');
?>

OUTPUT

1

Hope this will sure help you.