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Pattern

Regex for French postal code

5-digit French postal code.

The French postal code regex is ^\d{5}$ — copy it below, or open it in the explainer for a token-by-token breakdown.

The pattern

^\d{5}$
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What it matches

  • 75001
  • 13001
  • 69100
  • 06000

What it doesn't match

  • 7500
  • 750001
  • PARIS
  • ABCDE

Notes & gotchas

French postal codes are 5 digits. First 2 digits are the département number (75=Paris, 13=Bouches-du-Rhône, 69=Rhône). The remaining 3 indicate the area within. Same format used in Monaco.

Code in your language

Use the explainer's Code tab to generate ready-to-paste snippets in JavaScript, Python, Java, .NET, Go, Ruby, and PHP for this pattern.

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Token-by-token breakdown

Every part of the pattern, left to right:

TokenMeaning
^start of string (or line in multiline mode)
\d{5}exactly 5 times: digit (0–9)
$end of string (or line in multiline mode)

About this pattern

European Union identifiers follow standards set by individual member states with EU-wide coordination (VAT VIES, IBAN/SEPA, etc.). The regex validates structure; for production use, validate via the appropriate registry.

Quick usage in different languages

This exact pattern — with the correct escaping and idioms for each language:

  • JavaScript: /^\d{5}$/.test(value)
  • Python: re.match(r"^\d{5}$", value)
  • Java: Pattern.compile("^\\d{5}$").matcher(value).matches()
  • C# / .NET: Regex.IsMatch(value, @"^\d{5}$")
  • Go: regexp.MustCompile(`^\d{5}$`).MatchString(value)
  • Ruby: /^\d{5}$/.match?(value)
  • PHP: preg_match('~^\d{5}$~', $value)

The explainer’s Code tab regenerates these for any pattern you paste, and the downloadable cheat sheet bundles the breakdown, all seven snippets, and the pitfalls below onto one printable page.

Common pitfalls

  • Anchored to the whole string. This pattern uses ^ and $, so it requires the entire input to match. To find it inside a longer text, drop the anchors and use the global (g) flag.
  • Escape it correctly per language. In Java and JavaScript strings each backslash must be doubled (\\d); in Python, Go, and C# use raw/verbatim strings so the backslashes survive.
  • Validate beyond format. Matching the format doesn't guarantee the value is real. Confirm the french postal code against a source of truth (database, API, or checksum) where it matters.

Related patterns

More patterns in the Europe 🇪🇺 category:

See also

Browse all 300 patterns in the library, or open this regex in the interactive explainer to see a token-by-token breakdown, test against custom input, and generate code in seven languages.


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