Forum Discussion
A way to filter gibberish Emails and Usernames
Identifying gibberish or fake accounts based on patterns in email names or usernames can be challenging, as there are countless variations. However, you can use some Excel functions and formulas to create a set of rules that might help in flagging potential gibberish.
Here is a basic example to get you started:
Let's assume your email addresses are in column A, and usernames are in column B. You can add a new column (let's say column C) with a formula to check for patterns. Use the following formula in cell C2 and drag it down:
=IF(AND(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("^[A-Za-z]{3,}[0-9]{4,}$", A2)), ISNUMBER(SEARCH("^[A-Za-z]{2,}[0-9]{4,}$", B2))), "Potential Gibberish", "Normal")
This formula checks if both the email and username follow a pattern of starting with letters and ending with numbers. You might need to adjust these patterns based on the specific characteristics of the accounts you consider gibberish.
Explanation of the formula:
- SEARCH("^[A-Za-z]{3,}[0-9]{4,}$", A2): Checks if the email starts with at least 3 letters and ends with at least 4 numbers.
- SEARCH("^[A-Za-z]{2,}[0-9]{4,}$", B2): Checks if the username starts with at least 2 letters and ends with at least 4 numbers.
- AND(ISNUMBER(...), ISNUMBER(...)): Checks if both conditions are true.
- If both conditions are true, it returns "Potential Gibberish"; otherwise, it returns "Normal".
Feel free to adjust the patterns in the SEARCH functions based on your observations of gibberish accounts. This is just a starting point, and you may need to refine the criteria based on the specific characteristics of the accounts you encounter. The text was revised with the AI.
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Hi NikolinoDE
Liked your post as I learned something with your SEARCH("^[A-Za-z]{3,}[0-9]{4,}$", A2)
Quick questions if you don't mind...
#1 SEARCH being case-insensitive wouldn't the following work as well?
SEARCH("^[a-z]{3,}[0-9]{4,}$", A2)
or
SEARCH("^[A-Z]{3,}[0-9]{4,}$", A2)
#2 What's the meaning of the $ sign at the end? Can you provide a pointer to doc. or briefly explain?
Thanks Much
- Case Insensitivity in SEARCH:
Yes, you're correct. The SEARCH function in Excel is case-insensitive by default. Therefore, both of the following patterns would work:
- SEARCH("^[a-z]{3,}[0-9]{4,}$", A2): This pattern checks if the string starts with at least 3 lowercase letters and ends with at least 4 numbers.
- SEARCH("^[A-Z]{3,}[0-9]{4,}$", A2): This pattern checks if the string starts with at least 3 uppercase letters and ends with at least 4 numbers.
You can use either of these patterns based on your specific needs and the characteristics of the data you're working with.
- Meaning of the $ sign:
In regular expressions (regex), the $ sign represents the end of a line or string. In the context of the pattern ^[A-Za-z]{3,}[0-9]{4,}$:
- ^[A-Za-z]{3,}: This part ensures that the string starts (^) with at least 3 uppercase or lowercase letters.
- [0-9]{4,}$: This part ensures that the string ends ($) with at least 4 numeric digits.
So, the $ ensures that the pattern is matched only when the specified conditions apply from the beginning to the end of the string.
(THANKS for all your explanations - Liked)
I feel embarrassed to ask but after reading re. RegEx and trying even very simplified versions of your formula I keep getting #VALUE! errors:
Wonder where my bad is or if I missed something???
In case this would matter I run 365 Personal/Windows v2310 Build 16924.20124 (so not Insider)
and only Add-in currently installed is DAX StudioLorenzo To the best of my knowledge (and after a quick Google search), regular expressions or RegEx is not supported by any of the built-in functions in Excel. However, there are plenty of VBA and UDF solutions available online. Regarding Add-Ins, though, when I searched for RegEx in the Add-Ins Store, nothing promising came up.
When using "^[a-z]" in the SEARCH function, you are searching for the literal string "^[a-z]". For example, if the string in cell A2 of your screenshot were "abc^[a-z]def", the SEARCH function would return 4.
Unfortunately, the SEARCH function only works with basic wildcards (*?~) and does not appear to work with RegEx notation.
