diff --git a/getvods.sh b/getvods.sh
index f16e7a1..1db54ac 100755
--- a/getvods.sh
+++ b/getvods.sh
@@ -63,15 +63,17 @@ access_token="$(grep -o "access_token\":\"[a-zA-Z0-9]\+" "${CFG_DIR}/token.json"
 # get the username to search for
 declare -i retries=0
 [ ! -z "${1}" ] && {
-  [ "${#1}" -ge "4" ] && [ "${#1}" -le "25" ] && grep "[a-zA-Z0-9_]\{4,25\}" <<< "${1}" >/dev/null && {
-    login="${1}"
-    break
-  }
-  printf "username must be between 4 and 25 characters long\n"
-  printf "username may have only characters a-z A-Z 0-9 and _\n"
-  retries+=1
+  while :; do
+    [ "${#1}" -ge "4" ] && [ "${#1}" -le "25" ] && grep "[a-zA-Z0-9_]\{4,25\}" <<< "${1}" >/dev/null && {
+      login="${1}"
+      break
+    }
+    printf "username must be between 4 and 25 characters long\n"
+    printf "username may have only characters a-z A-Z 0-9 and _\n"
+    retries+=1
+  done
 }
-[ -z "${login}"] && {
+[ -z "${login}" ] && {
   while :; do
     read -p 'type in username >' login
     [ "${#login}" -ge "4" ] && [ "${#login}" -le "25" ] && grep "[a-zA-Z0-9_]\{4,25\}" <<< "${login}" >/dev/null && break
@@ -154,10 +156,12 @@ for i in {0..19}; do
   printf "%s:\t%s %s\n" "$((${i}+1))" "${titles[${i}]}" "${duration[${i}]}"
 done
 
-declare -i retries
+retries=0
 while :; do
   read -p "choose a video from the list (type 1-20) >" choice
-  grep "[0-9]\{1,2\}" <<< "${choice}" && [ "${choice}" -ge 0 ] && [ "${choice}" -le 20 ] && break
+  grep "[0-9]\{1,2\}" <<< "${choice}" >/dev/null && [ "${choice}" -ge 0 ] && [ "${choice}" -le 20 ] && break
   printf "%s is not a number from 1-20\n" "${choice}"
+  retries+=1
+  [ "${retries}" -ge 3 ] && on_fail "exceeded max retries" "1"
 done
-printf "%s\n" "${urls[$((${choice}-1))]}" | xclip -selection clipboard
+printf "%s" "${urls[$((${choice}-1))]}" | xclip -selection clipboard