title: How to parse freeform street/postal address out of text, and into components
body: <p>We do business largely in the United States and are trying to improve user experience by combining all the address fields into a single text area. But there are a few problems:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>The address the user types may not be correct or in a standard format</li>
  <li>The address must be separated into parts (street, city, state, etc.) to process credit card payments</li>
  <li>Users may enter more than just their address (like their name or company with it)</li>
  <li>Google can do this but the Terms of Service and query limits are prohibitive, especially on a tight budget</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Apparently, this is a common question:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5709260/php-script-to-parse-address">PHP script to parse address?</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2425899/how-do-i-parse-the-free-format-address-to-save-into-the-database">How do I parse the free format address to save into the DataBase</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/877742/java-postal-address-parser">java postal address parser</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8313876/more-efficient-way-to-extract-address-components">More efficient way to extract address components</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8488777/how-can-i-show-a-pre-populated-postal-address-in-contacts-screen-with-street-c">How can i show a pre populated postal address in contacts screen with street, city, zip on android</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1381085/php-regexp-us-address">PHP regexp US address</a></li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Is there a way to isolate an address from the text around it and break it into pieces? Is there a regular expression to parse addresses?</p>