Email Validation

Email Validation

$("#tbEmail").change(function() {

var usr = $("#tbEmail");
var pattern = "^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$";

if(eregi(pattern, usr)){

$("#status").html('<img src="loader.gif" align="absmiddle">&nbsp;Checking availability...');

....



Im using Jquery/AJAX to validate my field live. But the code doest seem to work. Is my IF statement correct?