Stop Worrying and Learn to Love Regex (FREE TOOL)
I have two questions for you:
Have you ever tried to use Regex?
Do you know what regex is? (Regular Expressions, used mainly to locate or validate specific strings or patterns of text in a sentence, document, or any other character input.)
If you know what regex is, then you hate it... I asked a group of developers, all professionals, all had years of experience... "have you used regex?" and there were hands, but also groans, and moans. and I swear someone made the fake puking noise.
I actually love regex and still seldom use it because it's just so stressful. You can love something and still find it incredibly annoying, convoluted and... stlll in the end quite magical.
At times it feels like magic.
Turn a seemingly random assortment of characters into a pattern matching machine.
Turn seriously odd series of characters into a data validation formula.
Recently I've been thinking a lot about REGEXMATCH()
While Google Sheets literally has "Data Validation" as a feature, most of the time we're using dropdowns, human powered dropdowns to categorize and match text in columns.
But REGEXMATCH() can do a TON of great data validation, if you know how to use Regular Expressions.
What if you wanted to use REGEXMATCH() but didn't know how to use REGEX... then I built a tool just for you.
Actually, I built this tool for myself. But you can use it free, right now.
I built a RegexMatch Maker I called the "RegexMatcher"
→ https://bettersheets.co/regexmatcher
Enter your use case, the text you're trying to match, the pattern you're trying to recognize... and the cell you're doing it in.
The output will literally be the REGEXMATCH() formula written for you. And copied to your clipboard.
Done and done.
I'm working on a list of 200 REGEXMATCH use cases.
Here's a small portion of them:
✉️ Email Validation: Check if a cell contains a valid email address.
📞 Phone Number Validation: Verify if a cell contains a valid phone number.
👨💻 URL Detection: Identify if a cell contains a valid URL.
🤐 Zip Code Check: Determine if a cell contains a valid zip code.
🗓️ Date Format Recognition: Check if a cell contains a valid date in a specific format.
🏧 Credit Card Number Validation: Verify if a cell contains a valid credit card number.
👩💻 IP Address Detection: Identify if a cell contains a valid IP address.
🏢 Social Security Number (SSN) Validation: Check if a cell contains a valid SSN.
📲 Hashtag Identification: Identify if a cell contains a hashtag (#).
Use RegexMatcher today, and let me know how it goes. I'm still improving it as we speak.
-Andrew
Your Resident Google Sheets Wizard at BetterSheets.co
Older messages
Free Course
Friday, October 20, 2023
Hi, It's Andrew from BetterSheets.co Here is a free course you can take: Learn to Code in Google Sheets. Takes less than 1 hour to get you familiar with Apps Script. I made this coupon code via
Is it easier?
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Hi, Just checking in to show you that I'm trying to make BetterSheets.co easier to navigate. Been adding little UI elements to make it easier to understand where to go, what can be done, etc. For
YouTube Thumbnail A/B Test Results
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
I cracked the code on YouTube's newest feature: Thumbnail A/B Testing If you're a Better Sheets member you can watch this tutorial and get the sheet right now -> Watch at BetterSheets.co
Master Spreadsheet Automation
Friday, October 6, 2023
Hi, This week I revamped, reimagined, the Apps Script course that's available on Udemy. Thought it would be much more helpful to you to include in one single course nearly everything you'd want
10% Off
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Hi, It's beyond my control, AppSumo is offering 10% off today for Taco Day. If you missed out on Better Sheets this week for $199, you can still get it pretty darn close! Become a Lifetime Member
You Might Also Like
Closing 5/22 • For Authors • May Holiday Weekend Newsletter Promo + Social Media Posts
Saturday, May 18, 2024
For Authors ~ Join Our Book Newsletter for Summer Reading Enable Images to See This Join ContentMo's MAY 2024 Summer Reading Promotion & Get Your Book Emailed ~ Tweeted & posted to Facebook
Minimalism as a Tool
Saturday, May 18, 2024
A life of less stuff means a life of more focus and meaning.
The $1 billion test
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Will you pass?
• Promote a book series • all in one order w/ ContentMo •
Saturday, May 18, 2024
~ Book Series Ads for Authors ~ All in One Order! We want to help you get your book series out on front of readers. Our BOOK SERIES PROMO Packages can get you there! BOOK SERIES PROMOTIONS by ContentMo
The next round is on us--FREE Upgrade!
Friday, May 17, 2024
We've completely redone the small business buying course. And you're getting the new version for free. Hey No name, We've been working hard behind the scenes to bring you something new and
Help Me Decide What to Share
Friday, May 17, 2024
A poll!
Why it May Be Okay to Drop Beavers from Airplanes
Friday, May 17, 2024
But I wouldn't try it yourself.
How should you adopt LLMs? @ Irrational Exuberance
Friday, May 17, 2024
Hi folks, This is the weekly digest for my blog, Irrational Exuberance. Reach out with thoughts on Twitter at @lethain, or reply to this email. Posts from this week: - How should you adopt LLMs? How
Google penalises Site Reputation Abuse, starts rollout of AI Overviews
Friday, May 17, 2024
Immediately following the two-month grace period Google handed out manual penalties like candy at Halloween. Plus, Google I/O showed us the future of search. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Data is the only truth in business
Friday, May 17, 2024
Don't rely on outsourcing The world is pushing for stricter privacy policies: Safari has blocked all 3rd-party cookies from their browser. Google rolled out Tracking Protection to Chrome