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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-18T07:41:15+00:00

I am practicing sending emails with Google App Engine with Python. This code checks

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I am practicing sending emails with Google App Engine with Python. This code checks to see if message.sender is in the database:

class ReceiveEmail(InboundMailHandler):
    def receive(self, message):
        querySender = User.all()
        querySender.filter("userEmail =", message.sender)
        senderInDatabase = None
        for match in querySender:
            senderInDatabase = match.userEmail

This works in the development server because I send the email as "az@example.com" and message.sender="az@example.com"

But I realized that in the production server emails come formatted as "az <az@example.com> and my code fails because now message.sender="az <az@example.com>" but the email in the database is simple "az@example.com".

I searched for how to do this with regex and it is possible but I was wondering if I can do this with Python lists? Or, what do you think is the best way to achieve this result? I need to take just the email address from the message.sender.

App Engine documentation acknowledges the formatting but I could not find a specific way to select the email address only.

Thanks!

EDIT2 (re: Forest answer)

@Forest:
parseaddr() appears to be simple enough:

>>> e = "az <az@example.com>"
>>> parsed = parseaddr(e)
>>> parsed
('az', 'az@example.com')
>>> parsed[1]
'az@example.com'
>>>

But this still does not cover the other type of formatting that you mention: user@example.com (Full Name)

>>> e2 = "<az@example.com> az"
>>> parsed2 = parseaddr(e2)
>>> parsed2
('', 'az@example.com')
>>>

Is there really a formatting where full name comes after the email?

EDIT (re: Adam Bernier answer)

My try about how the regex works (probably not correct):

r    # raw string
<     # first limit character
(     # what is inside () is matched     
[       # indicates a set of characters
^         # start of string
>         # start with this and go backward?
]       # end set of characters
+       # repeat the match
)     # end group
>    # end limit character
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    If you want to use regex try something like this:

    >>> import re
>>> email_string = "az <az@example.com>"
>>> re.findall(r'<([^>]+)>', email_string)
['az@example.com']

    Note that the above regex handles multiple addresses…

    >>> email_string2 = "az <az@example.com>, bz <bz@example.com>"
>>> re.findall(r'<([^>]+)>', email_string2)
['az@example.com', 'bz@example.com']

    but this simpler regex doesn’t:

    >>> re.findall(r'<(.*)>', email_string2)
['az@example.com>, bz <bz@example.com'] # matches too much

    Using slices—which I think you meant to say instead of “lists“—seems more convoluted, e.g.:

    >>> email_string[email_string.find('<')+1:-1]
'az@example.com'

    and if multiple:

    >>> email_strings = email_string2.split(',')
>>> for s in email_strings:
...   s[s.find('<')+1:-1]
...
'az@example.com'
'bz@example.com'
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