# Looking to extract string of numbers from messy column values **URL:** \ **Category:** KNIME Analytics Platform\ **Created:** [January 20, 2026, 12:05pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233 "2026-01-20T12:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rsmth](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/848f3c/32.png) [@rsmth](https://forum.knime.com/u/rsmth)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 12:05pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233/1 "2026-01-20T12:05:33Z")
Hi, I am new to KNIME and still learning how to achieve some results. I have a column of information that is very messy, no standardization to the formatting of the contents and contains values that are variable in length and format. This column contains number strings that I would like to have in a stand-alone column, removing all of the other information. These number strings are variable in length and may or may not contain punctuation or spaces and may have a letter as part of the string (often at the end). There may also be more than one in a given cell. I have tried the String Manipulation node using the regexReplace function using an expression like this:“(.\*\\d+(?:[.,\\s]\\d+)”,“$1” but no matter how I modify this regex, I can’t get KNIME to give me results. It either gives me nothing in the new column or it simply copies what is in the column to the new column. Can anyone help me with either a better regex and/or node to achieve this goal of extracting the string of numbers? Below are some example strings where I would like to extract the numbers: | 15449L Universal Editions | | --- | | 144-40058 Merion Music, Inc. | | 6718 Peters; 6718a Peters | | eSp 8323 | | 6378 Edition Schott | | U.E. 12466 LW Universal | | 66455 Edition Peters | | Z. 7032 Editio Musica volume 1; Z. 7926 Editio Musica volume 2 | Thank you! | ---
**Author:** ![HansS](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/user_avatar/forum.knime.com/hanss/32/6979_2.png) [@HansS](https://forum.knime.com/u/HansS)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233/2 "2026-01-20T12:46:36Z")
Hi @rsmth Welcome to the KNIME forum. A tricky question. It would be helpful if you could provide not only some sample input data, but also the expected results in your “standalone” column. gr. Hans ---
**Author:** ![mlauber71](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/user_avatar/forum.knime.com/mlauber71/32/73590_2.png) [@mlauber71](https://forum.knime.com/u/mlauber71)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 1:08pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233/3 "2026-01-20T13:08:47Z")
@rsmth this is how this could work. You define a minimum length of the number you want to extract and then use this regex to split the text into several (full) numbers. If you want to take care of decimals the regex might have to be different ```java (?s).*?\b(\d{2,})\b(?:.*?\b(\d{2,})\b)?(?:.*?\b(\d{2,})\b)? ``` ![image](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/uploads/default/original/3X/5/8/5842de84e9bae94a7adc5fc04d392ddc4db1a77b.png) > **[Extract Numbers with RegEx - KNIME Forum (91233) – mlauber71](https://hub.knime.com/mlauber71/spaces/Forum/2026/Extract%20Numbers%20with%20RegEx%20-%20KNIME%20Forum%20(91233)~F4Ed7y6Yc4KtaIXd/current-state)** > > Solutions for data science: find workflows, nodes and components, and collaborate in spaces. ---
**Author:** ![rsmth](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/848f3c/32.png) [@rsmth](https://forum.knime.com/u/rsmth)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233/4 "2026-01-20T14:53:38Z")
Thank you, @HansS, In the standalone column, I am hoping for: 15449L 144-40058 6718 6718a 8323 6378 12466 66455 7032 7926 As you see there are a couple where I will would also like to have the final letter attached to the number but I should still be able to work with just the digits alone and achieve what I am looking for, as I suspect developing a regex to be able to capture the letter after the numbers too might result in more problems than it is worth. In general, it is just the strings I am hoping for but, as mentioned and not well represented in the sample data, is that some numbers have various forms of punctuation or white space leading into or within the number, ex. B-103 or 123 456 789, that also make this challenging. Thank you again for any thoughts you might have. I will check out the option presented by the other poster as well. rsmth ---
**Author:** ![mlauber71](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/user_avatar/forum.knime.com/mlauber71/32/73590_2.png) [@mlauber71](https://forum.knime.com/u/mlauber71)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 3:06pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233/5 "2026-01-20T15:06:28Z")
> [@rsmth](#): > > B-103 or 123 456 789, that also make this challenging It would make sense to mention such challenges in the initial round so the solution might try to take that into account. Another approach could be to employ a (local) LLM and tell it to extract the numbers (or more the IDs). Key will be to describe what you want and make sure the resulting data always has the same structure (JSON). Maybe send blocks of data there. > [@Splitting fields with Multiple Values](https://forum.knime.com/t/splitting-fields-with-multiple-values/84090/3): > > @TSL4000 welcome to the KNIME Forum. I thought this would be a fun task for KNIME’s LLM nodes and Ollama/Llama3.2. The result after some tweaking of the input and the prompt can look like this: Some lines have not been fully covered … mainly where there are several names but no and or ampersand. One might have to amend the prompt to cover such cases but first: What is happening is that the original content gets converted in a JSOn structure in chunks of 10 and this JSON then gets fed… ---
**Author:** ![rsmth](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/848f3c/32.png) [@rsmth](https://forum.knime.com/u/rsmth)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 12:33pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233/6 "2026-01-21T12:33:45Z")
Hi @mlauber71, Thank you again for this solution! It does look after many of the examples I have. I know I didn’t include all of the variations around these numbers in the main request, as I didn’t even know if what I wanted was possible but would you be able to provide advice for instances where the numbers are part of a string that includes letters either at the beginning or end? The examples are: LMP12345 6318a HL50396090 EJEM00005C Belwin Is it possible to extract these as well, either as part of the solution you have given or through another method? This seems to be the largest format group where the numbers weren’t extracted yet. Thank you in advance for your time! rsmth ---
**Author:** ![mlauber71](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/user_avatar/forum.knime.com/mlauber71/32/73590_2.png) [@mlauber71](https://forum.knime.com/u/mlauber71)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233/7 "2026-01-21T12:44:05Z")
@rsmth here you go: > (?s).\*?(?\ **[Extract Numbers with RegEx - KNIME Forum (91233) – mlauber71](https://hub.knime.com/mlauber71/spaces/Forum/2026/Extract%20Numbers%20with%20RegEx%20-%20KNIME%20Forum%20(91233)~F4Ed7y6Yc4KtaIXd/current-state)** > > Solutions for data science: find workflows, nodes and components, and collaborate in spaces. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://forum-cdn.knime.com/uploads/default/original/1X/ab3ccf34482a0329361734a18199390177204f15.png) [@system](https://forum.knime.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://forum.knime.com/t/looking-to-extract-string-of-numbers-from-messy-column-values/91233/8 "2026-01-28T12:44:06Z")
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