​@Andrew Marcroft 

The python function would be the simplest.

Otherwise, I feel you’ll probably need a very long complex filter looking for the same things.
 

import re

email = input_datau'email'] 

# Simple email pattern
email_regex = r"^xa-zA-Z0-9._%+-]+@_a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.9a-zA-Z]{2,}$"

# Validate email
is_valid = re.match(email_regex, email) is not None

# Output the result
output = {"is_valid": is_valid}

Hi ​@Andrew Marcroft 

Try this Zap step: Formatter > Text > Extract Email Address

Help: https://zapier.com/apps/formatter/help

​@Troy Tessalone 

I thought of that but Null values have always caused my zaps to crash. How would you account for that if it returned the null value because the email wasn’t present?

​@Badger 

Add a Filter step to check for the existence of an output variable value from the Formatter step: https://zapier.com/apps/filter/help

Also, Formatter > Text > Default Value

Could be used to set a dummy value.

​@Troy Tessalone 

Thanks. 

I have a bias for code blocks don’t always see you can just stack up tasks.

​@Badger 

Depends on the use case for the better approach.

Code steps count as 1 Task in Zap Runs.

Formatter Zap steps count as 0 Tasks in Zap Runs.

Other native Zap apps that count as 0 Tasks in Zap Runs:

​@Badger 

Another thing to keep in mind is the audience of the topic.

The average Zapier user is true no-code.

Code steps are low-code and often foreign/scary to the average Zapier user.

​@Troy Tessalone 

I didn’t realise they were free. I don’t think any tasks were when I started building for my friend years ago. 
I also didn’t think about the audience not liking code, I love it especially with the new AI tools making it so easy.

Another black mark my part.  

Thank you, I learnt something useful today.