user12988: FAQ says it's possible to use vanitygen to search for a match to a complete address yet when I input a complete address I get an "is too long" error message. Is there a way to run vanitygen using a complete public address?

user12809: The basic answer is: "It's not impossible" but "It's improbable" to do so. You'll make more BTC's on average mining, rather than trying to crack a public address with a vanity generator.
Like Murch said, the possibility of finding the same address is: 1 to 4.6 x 10^172
While getting struck by lightning twice is: 1 to 3.6 x 10^11
Statistically talking, you'll probably die before you can even come close finding the same public address.
Kudos,
-Beşir

user62102: Well this website has a list of all Bitcoin addresses and their private keys:
http://directory.io/
Of course this is a joke, and it doesn't really have them, it just generates them on request.
If you want it to match the exact address - it's far better to just edit the .cl kernel file so that it will verify the public key directly instead of converting it to an address and then comparing it. This would also increase the rate with which it is finding keys.
That said - this exercise is futile, as it is virtually impossible to stumble on the same private key as someone else.

user5406: It's so unlikely to succeed that it is not being offered. One could be tempted to say it's not possible:
Your chances are along the lines of 1 to 2^160. That is 1 to 4.666587*10^172, or very roughly rounded, 1 to 5 followed by 172 zeroes.
To put that in perspective, if you could create a billion addresses per second, the expected time to find a collision would still be longer than the age of the universe.

12988: <p>FAQ says it's possible to use vanitygen to search for a match to a complete address yet when I input a complete address I get an "is too long" error message. Is there a way to run vanitygen using a complete public address?</p>
 12809: <p>The basic answer is: "It's not impossible" but "It's improbable" to do so. You'll make more BTC's on average mining, rather than trying to crack a public address with a vanity generator.</p>

<p>Like Murch said, the possibility of finding the same address is: <strong>1 to 4.6 x 10^172</strong></p>

<p>While getting struck by lightning twice is: <strong>1 to 3.6 x 10^11</strong></p>

<p>Statistically talking, you'll probably die before you can even come close finding the same public address.</p>

<p>Kudos,</p>

<p>-Beşir</p>
 62102: <p>Well this website has a list of all Bitcoin addresses and their private keys:</p>

<p><a href="http://directory.io/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://directory.io/</a></p>

<p>Of course this is a joke, and it doesn't really have them, it just generates them on request.</p>

<p>If you want it to match the exact address - it's far better to just edit the .cl kernel file so that it will verify the public key directly instead of converting it to an address and then comparing it. This would also increase the rate with which it is finding keys.</p>

<p>That said - this exercise is futile, as it is virtually impossible to stumble on the same private key as someone else.</p>
 5406: <p>It's so unlikely to succeed that it is not being offered. One could be tempted to say it's not possible:</p>

<p>Your chances are along the lines of <strong>1 to 2^160</strong>. That is 1 to 4.666587*10^172, or very roughly rounded, <strong>1 to 5 followed by 172 zeroes</strong>.</p>

<p>To put that in perspective, if you could create a billion addresses per second, the expected time to find a collision would still be <strong>longer than the age of the universe</strong>.</p>
