Looking for Macro to searc for a SSN

[bbrad]

I am trying to figure out how to search for a Social Security Number formatted a specific way in a large spreadsheet. The number could be anywhere. Could be in a collumn by itself or embedded in text in a column.

Need something to look for the following format ###-##-#### where # could be any number and there will always be two dashes.

Just need to find them and display the cell location.

Any ideas on how to do this.

Thanks

[shg]

Search for *-*-*

It won't be found in text buried deeper that 1024 characters.

[bbrad]

This gives me tons of false positives. Example: Illness-Scratch-Eye, 02-15-2011.

I need something that looks for ###-##-### where # is only numbers meets that pattern.

[shg]

Then you'd have to so something like a RegExp search in MoreFunc.

[bbrad]

Not familier with that. Was hoping for an example macro or vba.
thanks

[DonkeyOte]

Need something to look for the following format ###-##-#### where # could be any number and there will always be two dashes.

It's not clear if by "any number" you mean any length or simply any digit

Assuming the latter (ie 3 digit - 2 digit - 4 digit):

What happens if you search for

???-??-????

Do you still get false positives ?

If you do, given the data can appear anywhere it would be worth either:

a) running an iterative Search based on the above until such time as a match is found

or

b) populating an Array with the UsedRange and iterating the Array for a match

I suspect b) would be quicker.

A sample file might help - obviously dummy the SSN but try to make the example(s) an accurate reflection of the data you have to work with.