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Formatter step - remove all non standard characters

  • November 1, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 22 views

I have a formatter step, the intent of which is to remove all non-standard characters (basically only letters, numbers, parentheses, colon and backslash).

 

I have it set up as a replace, and for find, I have [^a-zA-Z0-9(): /]. Replace is blank - the intent is anything it finds that is not a number, letter etc is replaced with blank, which is what I want.

 

It doesn’t seem to be working reliably. Is there something wrong, or a better way to achieve this?

 

The input field is text, but just sometimes has the odd random character in - a comma, an emoji etc, which breaks the steps down the line.

Best answer by AlexanderHarris2345

Your regex is close — try tightening it to [^a-zA-Z0-9():\\s/] instead. The added \\s preserves spaces, and escaping the backslash properly ensures it’s treated literally. That should reliably strip out emojis and other special characters.

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3 replies

Sparsh from Automation Jinn
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Hey ​@escape,

I don’t think Formatter > Text > Replace pattern supports regex, Try using Formatter > Text > Extract pattern with regex and then Replace formatter step to see if it can remove what you want.

If that doesn’t work, try using a Code by Zapier action. See more about it here- https://zapier.com/blog/code-by-zapier-guide/. Hope it helps!


Troy Tessalone
Zapier Orchestrator & Solution Partner
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  • Zapier Orchestrator & Solution Partner
  • November 3, 2025

@escape 

Try this Zap action: AI by Zapier - Analyze and Return Data


AlexanderHarris2345
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Your regex is close — try tightening it to [^a-zA-Z0-9():\\s/] instead. The added \\s preserves spaces, and escaping the backslash properly ensures it’s treated literally. That should reliably strip out emojis and other special characters.