PHP function to check valid Email Addresses

Here is a Simple PHP function to check valid Email Addresses. The function accepts Email string trims it check whether it satisfies the Email format. if it satisfies then return TRUE else FALSE. Scroll down for the function.
function validateEmail( $strEmail ){ $strEmail=trim($strEmail); if( $strEmail!="" ){ $pattern="/^([a-z0-9_\.]+)@([a-z0-9_\-\.]+)\.([a-z]{2,3})$/i"; if( preg_match($pattern,$strEmail,$match) ){ return TRUE; }else FALSE; }else return TRUE; } How to use this function? $myEmail=$_POST['txt_email']; if validateEmail( $myEmail ) echo("VALID EMAIL"); else echo("YOU ENTERED AN INVALID EMAIL."); Hope thi shelp someone... :)