I would like a formula in excel that does what Text To Columns does.
For example the following string in A1
" text with a comma, stays in one column",," keep starting blank text",1,2,3,"123"
Would be split into multiple cells like this...
The following LET Function allows you to split the text into columns based on the splitter character (in this instance a comma).
It ignores commas that are between quotes (the Delim argument - which has double quotes in it).
It does this by ensuring there is an even number of quotes before the splitter character.
=LET(
NOTES,"Splits a string but also checks to see if the splitter is inside a delimiter. So will ignore a comma inside quotes.",
RawString,$A1,
Splitter,",",Note2,"This is the character to split the string by",
Delim,"""",Note4,"This is the text delimiter it looks odd but it's just a double quote - change to "" if you don't want text delimitation",
IgnoreBlanks,FALSE,
CleanTextDelims,TRUE,
TrimBlanks,FALSE,
SplitString,Splitter&RawString&Splitter,Note3,"Add the splitter to the start and the end to help create the array of split positions",
StringLength,LEN(SplitString),
Seq,SEQUENCE(1,StringLength),Note5,"Get a sequence from 1 to the length of the split string",
Note6,"The below does the bulk of the work. It works out if we are at an odd or even point in terms of count of text delimiters up to the point in the sequence we are processing.",
Note7,"if we are at an even point and we have a delimiter then make a note of the sequence otherwise put a blank.",
PosArray,IF(Seq=StringLength,Seq,IF(MOD(LEN(LEFT(SplitString,Seq))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(SplitString,Seq),Delim,"")),2)=0,IF(MID(SplitString,Seq,1)=Splitter,Seq,""),"")),
PosArrayClean,FILTER(PosArray,PosArray<>""),Note8,"Clean blanks",
StartArray,FILTER(PosArrayClean,PosArrayClean<>StringLength),
EndArray,FILTER(PosArrayClean,PosArrayClean<>1),
StringArray,MID(SplitString,StartArray+1,EndArray-StartArray-1),
StringArrayB,IF(IgnoreBlanks,FILTER(StringArray,StringArray<>""),StringArray),
StringArrayC,IF(CleanTextDelims,IF(LEFT(StringArrayB,1)=Delim,MID(StringArrayB,2,IF(RIGHT(StringArrayB,1)=Delim,LEN(StringArrayB)-2,LEN(StringArrayB))),StringArrayB),StringArrayB),
IFERROR(IF(TrimBlanks,TRIM(StringArrayC),StringArrayC),"")
)
Breaking down each step in the LET formula:
Supply the raw string (from cell A1 in this case)
Set the splitter character - in this case a comma
Set the text delimiter - in this case double quotes (looks odd because it has to be as double double quotes - Delim,"""" )
IgnoreBlanks is an option to exclude blank cells in the output
CleanTextDelims will clean the TextDelimiter (Double quotes) from the start and end of the resultant string
Create a SplitString variable with the split character at the front and back.
Get the length of the string for ease of use
Get a sequence from 1 to the length of the string.
Get an array of the position of characters that are splitters with an even number of Text Delimiters to the left of that position in the string the posArray (splitter position array).
Clean the blanks to get the posArrayClean
Create a start and end array (start array ignores the last and end array ignores the first item in the PosArrayClean)
Get the array of strings/cells to output.
If the IgnoreBlanks is used then igore blank cells
If the CleanTextDelims option is set then strip off the Text Delim (double quotes) from the start and end of the resultant string.
If the TrimBlanks option is set then trim blank spaces off the start and end of the resulting strings.
Hopefully the notes explain clearly how this works and make it easy to modify.
If you want create a named Lambda to use you can use the following code to paste into the formula of a named range called SplitStringDelim (you can name it what you like of course). NB You can't have the line separators in this and I stripped the notes out of it.
=LAMBDA(StringRaw,SplitChar,DelimChar,IgnoreBlank,CleanTextDelim,TrimBlank, LET( RawString,StringRaw, Splitter,SplitChar, Delim,DelimChar, IgnoreBlanks,IgnoreBlank, CleanTextDelims,CleanTextDelim, TrimBlanks,TrimBlank, SplitString,Splitter&RawString&Splitter, StringLength,LEN(SplitString), Seq,SEQUENCE(1,StringLength), PosArray,IF(Seq=StringLength,Seq,IF(MOD(LEN(LEFT(SplitString,Seq))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(SplitString,Seq),Delim,"")),2)=0,IF(MID(SplitString,Seq,1)=Splitter,Seq,""),"")), PosArrayClean,FILTER(PosArray,PosArray<>""),Note8,"Clean blanks", StartArray,FILTER(PosArrayClean,PosArrayClean<>StringLength), EndArray,FILTER(PosArrayClean,PosArrayClean<>1), StringArray,MID(SplitString,StartArray+1,EndArray-StartArray-1), StringArrayB,IF(IgnoreBlanks,FILTER(StringArray,StringArray<>""),StringArray), StringArrayC,IF(CleanTextDelims,IF(LEFT(StringArrayB,1)=Delim,MID(StringArrayB,2,IF(RIGHT(StringArrayB,1)=Delim,LEN(StringArrayB)-2,LEN(StringArrayB))),StringArrayB),StringArrayB), IFERROR(IF(TrimBlanks,TRIM(StringArrayC),StringArrayC),"")))
I am trying to bring together several cells and they have a specific length so if I have
A1 needs to be 5 chars and the value is 'cat'
B1 needs to be 6 chars and the value is 'dog'
Concatenated it would be:
[space space]cat[space space space]dog
or
" cat dog"
I'm having trouble finding a function or set of functions that allows this, most want to trim out leading or trailing spaces.
Yes:
=CONCATENATE(RIGHT(REPT(" ",5)&A1,5),RIGHT(REPT(" ",6)&A2,6))
or as #BigBen stated use & instead of Concatenate:
=RIGHT(REPT(" ",5)&A1,5)&RIGHT(REPT(" ",6)&A2,6)
I have here some text strings
"16cg-301 -request","16cg-3368 - for review","16cg-3684 - for process"
what i would like to do is to remove all the text and characters except the number and the letters "cg" and - which is within the reference code.
If the string you want to extract is always before the first space in the full string then you can use SEARCH and LEFT to extract your reference code:
=LEFT(A1,SEARCH(" ",A1)-1)
This formula would take 16cg-3368 from 16cg-3368 - for review.
I suggest using something like suggested here
How to use Regular Expressions (Regex) in Microsoft Excel both in-cell and loops
With a replace regex similar to this
[^\dcg]*
or a match regex like this
^([0-9cg- ]+).*
else you could also work with a strange formule similar to this
=CONCATENATE(IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;1;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;1;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;2;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;2;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;3;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;3;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;4;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;4;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;5;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;5;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;6;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;6;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;7;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;7;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;8;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;8;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;9;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;9;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;10;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;10;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;11;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;11;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;12;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;12;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;13;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;13;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;14;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;14;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;15;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;15;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;16;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;16;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;17;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;17;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;18;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;18;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;19;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;19;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;20;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;20;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;21;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;21;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;22;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;22;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;23;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;23;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;24;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;24;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;25;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;25;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;26;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;26;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;27;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;27;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;28;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;28;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;29;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;29;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;30;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;30;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;31;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;31;1);"");IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(A2;32;1);"01234567890cg-")>0));MID(A2;32;1);""))
only works by now for less than 33 signs.
problem here will be that you will get unexpected behavior like this:
123cg-123 - Process => 123cg-123-c
after rereading , I think you should try an other approach than described in the question ;-)
If you want to return everything up to and including the last digit, then try:
=LEFT(A1,LOOKUP(2,1/ISNUMBER(-MID(A1,seq,1)),seq))
seq is a named formula: Formula ► Define Name
Name: seq
Refers to: =ROW(INDEX($1:$65535,1,1):INDEX($1:$65535,255,1))
seq returns an array of sequential numbers from 1 to 255.
mid(a1,seq,1)
returns an array consisting of the individual characters in the string in A1. The leading minus sign converts the digits from strings to numbers.
The lookup function will then return the position of the last digit
Is there a short formula to get the n-th letter of the alphabet?
For example, if I give parameter 5 to the function, I would get the letter e.
There is a function CHAR which gives a character with the specified code:
CHAR(96 + 5)
will yield your "e".
But there is no direct way to get a character of the alphabet.
An alternate, although not as short as the CHAR function, is the CHOOSE function
=CHOOSE(5,"a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h","I","j","k","l","m",
"n","o","p","q","r","s","t","u","v","w","x","y","z")
The index number '5' returns the fifth value in the list. The list could be an Excel range of data e.g. (A1:A26).
If the index number is outside the range, #VALUE! is returned
you could use an ascii function since every letter has a numeric value in ascii
Not sure what language your using... in T-SQL you can use an ASCII and CHAR functions:
PRINT CHAR(ASCII('A') + #i) -- where #i is your numeric value
There is also another simpler way: CHAR(CODE("A")+TRUNC(RAND()*26)).
This gives you the position of the letter in question (C3, for example) if it is capital or not.
=IF(AND(CODE(C3)>=65,CODE(C3)<=90),CODE(C3)-64,IF(AND(CODE(C3)>=97,CODE(C3)<=122),CODE(C3)-96,"Error"))
How do I concatenate together two strings, of unknown length, in COBOL? So for example:
WORKING-STORAGE.
FIRST-NAME PIC X(15) VALUE SPACES.
LAST-NAME PIC X(15) VALUE SPACES.
FULL-NAME PIC X(31) VALUE SPACES.
If FIRST-NAME = 'JOHN ' and LAST-NAME = 'DOE ', how can I get:
FULL-NAME = 'JOHN DOE '
as opposed to:
FULL-NAME = 'JOHN DOE '
I believe the following will give you what you desire.
STRING
FIRST-NAME DELIMITED BY " ",
" ",
LAST-NAME DELIMITED BY SIZE
INTO FULL-NAME.
At first glance, the solution is to use reference modification to STRING together the two strings, including the space. The problem is that you must know how many trailing spaces are present in FIRST-NAME, otherwise you'll produce something like 'JOHNbbbbbbbbbbbbDOE', where b is a space.
There's no intrinsic COBOL function to determine the number of trailing spaces in a string, but there is one to determine the number of leading spaces in a string. Therefore, the fastest way, as far as I can tell, is to reverse the first name, find the number of leading spaces, and use reference modification to string together the first and last names.
You'll have to add these fields to working storage:
WORK-FIELD PIC X(15) VALUE SPACES.
TRAILING-SPACES PIC 9(3) VALUE ZERO.
FIELD-LENGTH PIC 9(3) VALUE ZERO.
Reverse the FIRST-NAME
MOVE FUNCTION REVERSE (FIRST-NAME) TO WORK-FIELD.
WORK-FIELD now contains leading spaces, instead of trailing spaces.
Find the number of trailing spaces in FIRST-NAME
INSPECT WORK-FIELD TALLYING TRAILING-SPACES FOR LEADING SPACES.
TRAILING-SPACE now contains the number of trailing spaces in FIRST-NAME.
Find the length of the FIRST-NAME field
COMPUTE FIELD-LENGTH = FUNCTION LENGTH (FIRST-NAME).
Concatenate the two strings together.
STRING FIRST-NAME (1:FIELD-LENGTH – TRAILING-SPACES) “ “ LAST-NAME DELIMITED BY SIZE, INTO FULL-NAME.
You could try making a loop for to get the real length.