Let's use BTCRecover. Download the project and execute:

docker-compose run --rm recover bash

Let's say you think your password has the following properties:

• It has the word wig.
• It has the word salt.
• It may separate each word with a dot, comma, or underscore.
• It may add the year at the end of the password.

To explore how we can express these four properties in terms of configuration, create the file possible-tokens.txt with the following content:

wig
salt

Let's see what it means for BTCRecover by executing:

python btcrecover.py --listpass --tokenlist possible-tokens.txt

It returns the following:

wig
salt
saltwig
wigsalt
4 password combinations

If you add the flag typos-capslock, it tries the password with caps lock turned on, so if we issue:

python btcrecover.py --listpass --typos-capslock --tokenlist possible-tokens.txt

It returns the following result:

wig
WIG
salt
SALT
saltwig
SALTWIG
wigsalt
WIGSALT
8 password combinations

OK. Let's add the third property in the tokens file:

wig
salt
. , _

If you test to list passwords again (this time without the caps-lock flag) it returns the following:

wig
salt
saltwig
wigsalt
.
.wig
wig.
.salt
salt.
.saltwig
.wigsalt
salt.wig
saltwig.
wig.salt
wigsalt.
,
,wig
wig,
,salt
salt,
,saltwig
,wigsalt
salt,wig
saltwig,
wig,salt
wigsalt,
_
_wig
wig_
_salt
salt_
_saltwig
_wigsalt
salt_wig
saltwig_
wig_salt
wigsalt_
37 password combinations

The problem is that some combinations do not make sense. Let's remove those combinations with the following tokens file:

wig
salt
^,^. ^,^, ^,^_

With the positional anchors, we guarantee that a dot, comma, and underscore only appear in the middle of the words:

wig
salt
saltwig
wigsalt
salt.wig
wig.salt
salt,wig
wig,salt
salt_wig
wig_salt
10 password combinations

Finally, let's add the last property of the password. Let's say the year is 2000:

wig
salt
^,^. ^,^, ^,^_
2000$

If we run the test, it returns:

wig
salt
saltwig
wigsalt
salt.wig
wig.salt
salt,wig
wig,salt
salt_wig
wig_salt
2000
wig2000
salt2000
saltwig2000
wigsalt2000
wig.2000
salt.2000
salt.wig2000
saltwig.2000
wig.salt2000
wigsalt.2000
wig,2000
salt,2000
salt,wig2000
saltwig,2000
wig,salt2000
wigsalt,2000
wig_2000
salt_2000
salt_wig2000
saltwig_2000
wig_salt2000
wigsalt_2000
33 password combinations

If you don't know the year, you can change 2000$ to %4d$ instead. It means 230010 password combinations 🤯.

Here are two essential tips: Depending on how many combinations your configuration has, your computer's memory won't be able to keep the program running. In this case, add the flag --no-dupchecks (know why). It's also recommended to add the flags --typos-swap --typos-case --typos-closecase --typos-repeat --typos-delete. Try them out 😁!

Know all the possible configurations in the BTCRecover guide and its examples.