Regular expressions in GnuCash

[Lincoln A Baxter]

This thread has diverged significantly from regular expression
searching in GnuCash... which when I found it, I was very pleased.  But
they are not for general non-programmer type users.  I've often wished
M$ office tools supported regexes...  *sigh*

But I could not resist commenting on the suggestion that banks care
about"out of sequence" checks...

On Sun, 2016-09-25 at 13:47 -0700, AC wrote:
> Numeric fields do not have to be in any particular order.  If they
> did
> 
<snip>

> If banks didn't treat check numbers as numbers it would be harder to
> detect an out-of-order check.  Math with check numbers:  sort by date
> then look at locations where the difference between adjacent numeric
> fields is negative, the results are the out-of-order checks.

I have often written checks "out of sequence." This happens whenever I
can't find my check book, and take a check off the next set of checks
in my drawer, and then write the next check from the original pack I
was working on when I locate my check book. I have done this many time,
over a my life time, and with many different banks over the last 45
years.  The bank does not care a wit about "out of sequence checks."
 I'm sure they do care that the check "numbers" (i.e. sequences of
digits) are not reused.  In the end a check number is just a unique
sequence of digits for THIS account (identified by the the routing
number and account number on the MICR line preceding the check number.
 They are ordered because it makes it easier for humans to count their
checks... and because if you are going to create a unique sequence why
not order them... it is the simplest algorithm for printing unique
sequences. 


> More math with check numbers:
> Checkbooks have a fixed number of checks inside with a known start
> and
> end number.  If the client has written a check that is N away from
> the
> largest known check number available to them (i.e. the last check
> from
> the most recent order of checkbooks), send the client a reminder to
> order more checks.

I do not recall ever receiving such a reminder.  The reminders have
always been printed on the last pack of checks is the set they send
you.

Lincoln

> I did a search anyway to find out if there were any checks that used
> anything other than numeric values.  I have not found any and the
> main
> reason is that the standardized MICR line at the bottom of any check
> contains the check number.  The MICR font does not support alphabetic
> characters therefore checks can not be numbered with anything other
> than
> digits.
> 
>