Python tools for interacting with the data provided by the UK Royal Mail in their Postcode Address File.

Before using this, you will need to purchase a licence for the PAF (or qualify for an exemption from the price of a licence).

In the UK, the Royal Mail has ownership of the database containing every address and postcode. They provide this to individuals and businesses who pay for a licence for the data.

It is provided in a number of formats, the standard format being the "Mainfile" database. This is a series of text files containing various types of data which comprise UK addresses.

Due to the way it is structured, a lot of data has to be parsed and stored or represented in a more sensible way than it appears in the PAF. This project provides some tools to extract the data from the PAF and to construct an SQL database from it.

The aim is to provide all of the following tools to aid users wishing to access the PAF data:-

• PAF parser;
• Database constructor; and
• A lookup API.

I may have more ideas which I want to add later. I welcome any suggestions for other tools and features to add.