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Examples (#'s have been removed):
P O BOX
P.O. BOX
PMB
PO B0X
PO BO X
PO BOK
PO BOS
BOX
The one with the 'K' is interesting. 'K' is on the opposite side of the keyboard -- I can understand the 'S'.
The hardest part about parsing crap like this (there are 166,333 records) is determining what other variants I did not parse correctly (for example, considered as a street address, not a PO Box), not which ones I successfully accounted for.
Marc
Latest Article - Create a Dockerized Python Fiddle Web App
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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Could have been a manager studying his PMBOK. 
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Jeremy Falcon
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You really need to parse addresses ?If you start doing that, there will always be outliers that you will miss.
I'd rather be phishing!
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Maximilien wrote: If you start doing that, there will always be outliers that you will miss.
Software development is a constant war with the universe... Developers trying to do better idiot-proof software and the universe trying to do even dumber users...
So far the universe is winning
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek wrote: Software development is a constant war with the universe... Developers trying to do better idiot-proof software and the universe trying to do even dumber users...
You made my day with this phrase!
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You are welcome  
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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The universe will always win.
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Fully agree! This is mission impossible. How can one know that "BOS" should be "BOX" and not "BOSS" or "BOSSA NOVA"? Keep it simple and no risk, no fun!
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Maximilien wrote: You really need to parse addresses ?If you start doing that, there will always be outliers that you will miss.
Sadly yes. And outliers are acceptable as we're trying to fill in some form fields that break out address, PO Box, and Rural Routes, and if everything fails, the address just gets put into the Address1 field.
We're aiming for improvement rather than perfection.
Marc
Latest Article - Create a Dockerized Python Fiddle Web App
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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When we put our mail on vacation hold, it validates and 'normalizes' the address, so I do understand what you're working with.
Where I grew up, our address was RR#1; it wasn't until I was in my teens that we had an address with a number and street name.
So.. consider this.. are you only dealing with P.O. and its variants or do you have R.R. addresses as well?
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RR, CR, HC, etc., as well as regular street addresses (as best as those are).
Perfect accuracy is not necessary, just best guess. 
Marc
Latest Article - Create a Dockerized Python Fiddle Web App
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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Well, then just parse the city & state/province and geocode to the center of that.
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Tim Carmichael wrote: RR#1
Rolls Royce #1?
Homeless billionaire?
[sidebar]
Reminds me of The Bumpkin Billionaires which I used to read as a kid.
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I think the counties try to eliminate RR addresses when they implement 911 emergency service.
Ambulance dispatcher: Code red, RR 23, box 99
...
Ambulance navigator: We are on the correct Route... 1 mailbox, 2 mailbox, etc...
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Excellent point. Are there services that allow you to force user input validation of addresses against the USPS databases?
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Marc Clifton wrote: The one with the 'K' is interesting. 'K' is on the opposite side of the keyboard -- I can understand the 'S'.
Maybe this happened to your user? 
Just kidding - O and K are nearby, so he probably hit K accidentally along with BO and missed the X 
Or maybe he went for BOKS and missed the S, who knows? 
Cheers,
विक्रम
"We have already been through this, I am not going to repeat myself." - fat_boy, in a global warming thread
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See, isn't programming fun!?
Jeremy Falcon
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I smell OCR in the mix - hence the BOK, BOS, B0X, etc.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary Wheeler wrote: I smell OCR in the mix - hence the BOK, BOS, B0X, etc.
Ah - excellent point!
Marc
Latest Article - Create a Dockerized Python Fiddle Web App
Learning to code with python is like learning to swim with those little arm floaties. It gives you undeserved confidence and will eventually drown you. - DangerBunny
Artificial intelligence is the only remedy for natural stupidity. - CDP1802
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And I thought parsing dates that had been defined as strings or ints or decimals was a nightmare.
Maybe there is a need for an AI to second guess what the user might have meant.
We're philosophical about power outages here. A.C. come, A.C. go.
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Woah... haven't seen you in a long time Chris. How's it going these days?
Cheers,
विक्रम
"We have already been through this, I am not going to repeat myself." - fat_boy, in a global warming thread
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