Skip to main content
Question

Regular expressions in keywords matching?


NicoleZvR

Hi,

is there a way to use regular expressions in keyword matching? Often I can’t just list all the possible variants of the keyword (people make a lot of typos there) and good amount of comments or messages are left unanswered.

The idea to answer all comments is not viable, there are haters as well, or people not wanting any more info, just leaving a side note, I don’t want to send them any automatic message and use my limits on them.

Also I want to match full message in messenger, however, people put a lot of emoticons or all the possible ways of “thank you” there, which breaks the matching. I don’t want to match just a keyword there, I need to match full message.

All these issues I have can be easily resolved by utilizing regular expressions into keyword matching.

Is it possible? If not, will it be?

Thank you.

3 replies

SumGenius
Forum|alt.badge.img
  • Smooth talker
  • September 29, 2026

Worth knowing before you wait for it: regex wouldn't actually solve the typo half of this. Regex matches patterns you define in advance, and typos aren't patterns, they're random. You'd be back to enumerating variants, just with more syntax. Edit distance matching is what handles typos, and regex isn't that.

What does fit both of your problems is intent matching. Instead of listing keywords you write a description of what the person means, and ManyChat's AI matches against it. That covers typos without you predicting them, and it handles your Messenger case too, since "thank you" with six emoji and "thanks so much!!" mean the same thing and an intent catches both where a keyword list never will.

It also solves the part you're most worried about. Haters and people leaving a side note don't match the intent, so they don't trigger and don't burn your limits.

Test it on one automation before moving everything across. Intent matching is less predictable than a keyword list by nature, so you want to watch how it behaves on your real comments first.


NicoleZvR
  • Author
  • Up-and-comer
  • September 30, 2026

Thank you for your hint, but I am sure if I have a word “zánět” and people type “zánet, zanět, zanet, zánét etc.” I can easily match this by just doing z?n?t. It’s this type of ‘typos’.

If Manychat’s AI is as clever as Meta’s AI, then thanks but no thanks :)


cata_rendon
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Community Moderator
  • September 30, 2026

Hi ​@NicoleZvR, as far as I know regex isn't supported in keyword rules right now. I'd post it in Ideas so the product team sees it and others can vote for it:
https://community.manychat.com/ideas?sort=votes.desc

If you need it sooner, you could run the regex outside ManyChat with an External Request and use a Condition to decide if the reply goes out.