[wandering OT!] RE: [PHP] UK Postcodes Format

On 17 February 2004 12:45, Roddie Grant wrote: > Hmm, I hadn't actually looked at the JavaScript - just at the > description of how postcodes are structured. But the link to the > Royal Mail site is much better for that. <sigh /> If only Royal Mail > had remembered programmers when they thought up the postcode system. Well, I doubt there were many programmers around whn postcodes were being developed. The basic elements go back to Victorian times (the London postal districts, and division of other large cities into numbered areas), and most of the "outward" codes are based on internal Royal Mail codes that have probably been around equally as long. Even the current postcode system was invented in the '50s, when I doubt there'd have been much thought of the need for being computer-friendly! > Mike, I'm very impressed with your knowledge of postcodes! Even > better than the Royal Mail site. Well, it's been gleaned from many sources over a number of years (including keeping a number of moderately large mailing lists in order with the regular assistance of the old Post Code Directories) -- and every time someone asks a question like this, I seem to learn something else (this time a nugget about the GIR 0AA code!). But I can still never remember exactly which letters aren't used in the inward codes, and have to go look them up every time...! Cheers! Mike --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Ford, Electronic Information Services Adviser, Learning Support Services, Learning & Information Services, JG125, James Graham Building, Leeds Metropolitan University, Beckett Park, LEEDS, LS6 3QS, United Kingdom Email: m.ford@leedsmet.ac.uk Tel: +44 113 283 2600 extn 4730 Fax: +44 113 283 3211