Find emails which have @

[chlowden]

How do I find email addresses with @ in them when @ is already a symbol for single character? Is there a find function which uses "contains" as the parameter.

[LaRetta]

From FileMaker menu select Help > FileMaker Help:

"@" finds @ (or an email address, for example)

To search for specific strings in an email, type find in FM help. Very first option is finding text in fields and you will be presented with many options.

With all of your posts on finds, it doesn't appear that you know about FM Help. You should become very familiar with it ...

[chlowden]

You're right to a certain degree. My problem is that I have a newsletter system where I have to deal with upto 500 bad mails. Is there anyway of getting round adding for so many entries?

[LaRetta]

I am right to the degree that you posted your first question. I can not read your mind.

If you wish to provde a few example text strings we can assist you much better. You can include wild card character * to find 'groups' of text; but without more information, I have no idea what you're searching for. What makes an email bad?

[BrentHedden]

I'm supposing that each record has a text field, something named like 'EmailAddress'. If you only enter only one address in the field, you could script to loop through all of the records, and use a patterncount to find "@" (oversimplified example). This won't work as slick if you enter multiple addresses in one field.

This next suggestion is more for in the future. You can use field validation and the patterncount function to verify that the @ is in the field. I actually set up a custom function for this, since I have several email fields in my solution. The function looks like this -

IsEmpty ( Address )

or

PatternCount ( Address ; "@" )

So, either the address is empty, or it MUST have a @ in it - or the user can't continue.

[Ribbit]

You have the elegant solution from Brent Heddon and others, but you might want to experiment with a simple check I find useful. Where I collect an email in FileMakerPro, I also define "email provider" as "Middle(eMail_a;(Position(eMail_a;"@";1;1));25)" Sorting on this field I see typing errors, and see the range of email providers members of our user group utilize. Sometimes the simple answer allows you to appreciate the elegant.