All rules

Booking or reference number with two characters swapped

reference-number-varianton by defaultJapanese / English

A booking number written once with two neighbours swapped (MN-48215, MN-48251)

Example

How to fix

Check which number is right and correct the other.

Why it matters

A confirmation or a receipt writes its booking number more than once: at the top, and again where it says how to cancel or whom to call. When one place reads MN-48251 for MN-48215, the reader cannot tell which to quote, and the wrong one finds no booking. Two neighbouring characters swapped is the commonest slip in typing a number. chaff compares the numbers written right after labels of the same kind (Booking number, Confirmation number) and reports one that is another with two neighbouring characters swapped.

What it does not flag

Only letters and digits right after a label (booking number, reservation number, confirmation number, reference number, employee number, student number, PO number, quote or estimate number, invoice number, patient number, contract or agreement number, registration number, account number, policy number), with nothing but spaces, a colon, a comma or an opening bracket between, are read, and only when they hold four digits or more. A PO number may be the buyer's, copied from another document, but only two numbers of one kind that differ by two neighbours swapped are reported, so a different order's number is not. An original, master, former, amended or parent contract number (and an amendment number) cites another contract, so it is never compared with the document's own contract number. A registration number labels an attendee's registration and an application number an application, so the two are never compared. A payee's, beneficiary's, payer's or sender's account number labels the other side of a transfer, so it is never compared with the account's own account number; a policyholder number is not read as a policy number. Unlabelled codes (but for item codes, below), numbers of different kinds (a student number and an employee number, a booking number and an order number, an invoice number and an order number, a quote number and an order or invoice number, a registration number and an application number), numbers that differ in one character, swaps of characters that are not neighbours and numbers with more than one swap are not reported. A bare quote is not read as a label, since it is also a verb (quote your PO number). A plate number, number plate or licence plate is a vehicle's and is never compared with a registration number; a bare Registration label is not read as a plate, since an attendee's registration is written so too. An item code, item no., SKU or product code labels an item; a code in a table under such a label, in its row or its column, is read as if written after it. A code with no label (Refills for GP-0521) is reported only in the shape letters, a hyphen and four digits or more, and only when it is exactly one labelled or tabled code with two neighbours swapped. When the document labels or tables that writing itself anywhere, it is another item and is not reported (a catalog's AB-1234 and AB-1243 are two items), and two labelled or tabled item codes are never compared with each other (listed_kinds names the kinds read so); nor is a code two labelled codes swap to, or a number with no letters or hyphen (48251). A member number or member ID and a customer number may be different numbers, so they are never compared. A number written in groups one space apart (HM 5520 8137) is read as one while each further group is four or more capitals and digits holding a digit, stopping at the line's end or before a word or a short count (expires, 100 copies). A model, model number or model no. labels a product's model, and, as with item codes, two labelled or tabled models are never compared. When a product document (a recall, a warranty) names exactly one code as its own (in its title, on a line holding only a model or item label and the code, as Model: SH-710, or in a table under such a label), a shorter code is read too (two letters or more before a hyphen, and two digits or more: SH-710, FT-38), and a code written once that is that code with two neighbours swapped (SH-701) is reported. Not when the document names two codes so (a catalog), nor a code in a table, one written twice or more, one on a line that also names the document's code (the SH-710 replaces the SH-701), one after a label of another kind (booking number), or one with a single letter (A-12).

Turning it off or relaxing it

This page is built from the rule's definition file:packages/chaff/rules/reference-number-variant.yaml