title: How can I load user object by email address in Drupal 7?
body: <p>Been searching furiously on Google and the Drupal docs for something equivalent to  <a href="http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/modules--user--user.module/function/user_load/6" rel="nofollow" title="Function user_load">function user_load</a> for D6 as used <a href="http://www.daveshaw.net/content/how-load-drupal-user-email-username-or-uid" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p>
  
  <p>The user_load function in D7 takes a UID while the D6 version is flexible enough to allow email addresses.</p>
  
  <p>Any clues how I can achieve the same end in D7?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks </p>