Basic String Search Not Possible in CRM Deluge – Feature Request or Workaround?

Basic String Search Not Possible in CRM Deluge – Feature Request or Workaround?

Hi all,

I’m trying to solve what should be a very basic automation task in Zoho CRM Deluge:
Find the first 11-digit number anywhere in a string (specifically an email subject).

In almost any programming language—even 1980s BASIC!—this is a trivial loop:
FOR I = 1 TO LEN(T$) - 10
  S$ = MID$(T$, I, 11)
  IF S$ is all digits THEN PRINT S$ : END
NEXT I

But in Zoho CRM Deluge, there’s no way to do this: (That I can discover, even with AI tools!)
• `for i = 0 to N` is not supported.
• `while` loops are not supported.
• `for each` only works with lists or strings, and doesn’t provide an index.
• You can’t build a range or index list without a loop.
• Even workarounds like `for each i in 0..N` don’t work (syntax error).

This means you literally cannot scan a string by index in CRM Deluge, even for simple tasks like number extraction.
Given that Deluge is the only scripting option in CRM, this is a surprising and unnecessary limitation.

It’s not a statement count or performance issue (see official docs), just a missing basic feature in the language parser.
Please consider supporting at least one of:
  1. for i = 0 to N` loops (like in Zoho Creator and most languages)
  2. while` loops
  3. for each i in 0..N` as a range iterator
This would let us do simple, essential data processing without resorting to external tools or integrations and all the GDPR and other issues, let alone costs, for a basic (pardon the pun) feature.

Thanks for listening, and any advice if anyone who has a workaround would be appreciated, as this is a deal breaker for me!

David.