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This is a list of postcode areas, used by Royal Mail for the purposes of directing mail within the United Kingdom. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode . [ 1 ]
A group of postcode districts with the same alphabetical prefix is called a postcode area. All, or part, of one or more postcode districts are grouped into post towns. [1] Until 1996, Royal Mail required counties to be included in addresses, except for 110 of the larger post towns.
The postal counties of the United Kingdom, now known as former postal counties, [1] were postal subdivisions in routine use by the Royal Mail until 1996. [2] The purpose of the postal county – as opposed to any other kind of county – was to aid the sorting of mail by differentiating between similar post towns .
Royal Mail (1999). Address Management Guide (6th ed.). "Royal Mail major recode historical information – 2000 to September 2011" (PDF). Royal Mail. 3 November 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2017
The full delivery address including postcode can be validated against the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF), which lists 29 million valid delivery addresses, [27] constituting most (but not all) addresses in the UK. [28] A regular expression for validating UK postcodes is specified in the British Standards document BS 7666. [29]
For the purposes of directing mail, the United Kingdom (although the populations listed just show figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland), is divided by Royal Mail into postcode areas. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode . [ 1 ]
The Postcode Address File (PAF) is a database that contains all known "delivery points" and postcodes in the United Kingdom.The PAF is a collection of over 29 million Royal Mail postal addresses and 1.8 million postcodes. [1]
The inward postcode is always formatted as NAA. A valid inward postcode never contains the letters: C, I, K, M, O or V. The British Forces Post Office has a different system, but as of 2012 has also adopted UK-style postcodes that begin with "BF1" for electronic compatibility. United States: 1 July 1963 US: NNNNN NNNNN, NNNNN-NNNN