Introduction

Validating MAC addresses in Python is important in network programming and hardware interfacing. Python's re module can be used for regex-based MAC address validation. A common regex pattern for this is ^([0-9A-Fa-f]{2}[:-]){5}([0-9A-Fa-f]{2})$.

What is MAC Address Regex?

The regex pattern for a MAC address checks the standard format: six groups of two hexadecimal digits.

The MAC Address Regex Pattern

• Pattern: ^([0-9A-Fa-f]{2}[:-]){5}([0-9A-Fa-f]{2})$

• This matches MAC addresses with colon : or hyphen `` separators.

How to Validate MAC Addresses in Python?

To validate MAC addresses using regex in Python:

import re

def is_valid_mac_address(mac):
    mac_regex = re.compile(r'^([0-9A-Fa-f]{2}[:-]){5}([0-9A-Fa-f]{2})$')
    return bool(mac_regex.match(mac))

test_mac = "01:23:45:67:89:AB"
print(f"Is '{test_mac}' a valid MAC address? {is_valid_mac_address(test_mac)}")

Uses of MAC Address Regex Validation

1. Network Configuration: Ensuring MAC addresses are correctly formatted in network setups.

2. Hardware Interfacing: Validating MAC addresses in software dealing with physical network devices.

Conclusion

Python’s regex capabilities make it well-suited for MAC address validation, ensuring standard format adherence. For more complex scenarios or varied formats, Akto's regex validator can provide additional validation flexibility.