# Forward sortation area

A forward sortation area is the first three characters of a Canadian postal code, the part the open postcode data publishes and the part a Canadian address is checked against.

Date: 2026-09-16

A forward sortation area is the first three characters of a Canadian postal code — the M5V of M5V 3L9 — which names the delivery area the code belongs to; the last three characters, the local delivery unit, narrow it to a block or a building.

## What Spaw answers

Canada Post licenses the full code list, and the open data Spaw installs carries the forward sortation areas alone, so the Canadian postcode directory is a prefix directory: a written code is matched on its first three characters, `postcode_status` reads `live` when the area exists, and the town, province and centroid are the area's. It is recorded as `partial` whatever its size, which means a code the directory lacks is never called `postcode_not_found`. The Dutch four-digit district and the Irish routing key are handled the same way, at four and three characters.

## What it is not

It is not the full postcode, and the answer never pretends it is: `confirmation.postal_code` reads `postcode_directory` for the area, and nothing about the last three characters is checked beyond the country's pattern.

Reference: https://spaw.co/glossary/forward-sortation-area