Blank space in UK postal code

Question

Is there a way to know where the blank space has to be, in an UK postal code, if the user doesn't write the postal code with the blank space?

For example, if the input is: EC1A1BB, W1A0AX, M11AE, B338TH, CR26XH, DN551PT then the output must be: EC1A 1BB, W1A 0AX, M1 1AE, B33 8TH, CR2 6XH, DN55 1PT.

Thank you

Possible duplicate of [Space in Postcode](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1013091/space-in-postcode) — Alister Bulman, Oct 11 '17 at 15:37

Dan Winchester · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-09T12:51:23.863

6

The space is always before the final three characters.

This graphic shows the format:

Source: GetTheData

edited Feb 09 '21 at 12:51

answered Oct 11 '17 at 16:54

Dan Winchester

324
1
7

1

This is very helpful. Thank you ! – iusmar Oct 12 '17 at 07:28
Would be even more helpful if it were correct, e.g. LLNA_NLL – chrisjshields Feb 09 '21 at 02:27
1

@chrisjshields thank you for pointing this out, a newer version of the graphic has the correct format, which I have added to my updated answer. – Dan Winchester Feb 09 '21 at 12:53
Do you know how to do this in R? I have UK postcodes without the space and need to get a new variable of the postcode with the space. Thanks in advance! – Daniela Rodrigues Sep 23 '21 at 12:17

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 12 '17 at 13:53

I've created a C# method to validate postcode:

private string ValidatePostcode(string postcode)
{
    if (!postcode.Substring(postcode.Length - 4, 1).Equals(" "))
    {
         postcode = postcode.Insert(postcode.Length - 3, " ");
    }
    return postcode;
}

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 11 '17 at 15:39

1

The space seems to fall before the last three characters. Postcodes always end with Digit-Letter-Letter.

answered Oct 11 '17 at 15:39

Chukwuemeka Onyenezido

329
2
5

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 03 '18 at 14:31

1

The space is always before the NLL suffix. The prefix can be 3 or 4 characters before the space. LLNA_NLL. The above graphic is wrong! Should end NLL.

answered Nov 03 '18 at 14:31

john

11
1

The format in the graphic has now been corrected. – Dan Winchester Feb 09 '21 at 12:55

Blank space in UK postal code

4 Answers4