Excel Factor Entry 3 Re-format Data Using Formulas

13 thoughts on “Excel Factor Entry 3 Re-format Data Using Formulas”

1. I have a text that looks looks this:
   R1_LUT X,Y 0.3, -1.7 OR at time can also look like this:
   R1_LUT X,Y -0.3, -1.7
   I want to extract 0.3 as well as -0.3, using one robust formula, because the numbers could appear with signs OR without signs.
   I used the mid function =MID(A64,14,4) and it works well, but for the string in the first line, I end up with 0.3, and I don’t need the comma here.
   Can someone help me with using a conditional MID function, that will take care of both scenarios, to give me 0.3 as well as -0.3

   • Hi Pooja,

     If you want to extract the 0.3 and -0.3 as text you can use this formula:

     =IF(ISNUMBER(FIND(“-0.3”,A2)),-0.3,MID(A2,12,3))

     If you need them to be numbers then you can wrap the above formula in the VALUE function like this:

     =VALUE(IF(ISNUMBER(FIND(“-0.3”,A2)),-0.3,MID(A2,12,3)))

     Where A2 contains your text.

     Kind regards,

     Mynda.

     • Hello Mynda.
       Wow! Thanks for your reply.
       However, my numbers could be anything, not just a 0.3 or a-0.3.
       i.e. I am looking to make this more generalized:
       R1_LUT X,Y 0.3, -1.7 So—R1_LUT X,Y is always going to appear in the line, but the two set of numbers could be anthing as well as could be signed or unsigned(but will always be seperated by commas)
       Can you help me with a more generalized formula, using comma as a leverage in the formula?

       • Hi Pooja,

         If I were you I’d use the Text to Columns tool as opposed to writing a long complex formula that has to handle multiple scenarios. If the last letter before your value is ‘Y’ you can use ‘Y’ as the delimeter which will give you the last half of your text, then you can run it through text to columns again and use the comma as the delimeter to get rid of the text on the end.

         Let me know if you get stuck.

         Kind regards,

         Mynda.

         • Hi Pooja,

           You can use below formula.

           =VALUE(TRIM(RIGHT(LEFT(A1,FIND(“,”,A1,FIND(“Y”,A1))-1),4)))

           hope it will help you.

           regards,
           Ram Porwal

2. Since this manipulates the data as text only, it might have been better if you used text in the example, and not number that were going to be treated as text by Excel. Just to avoid confusion.

   With that said, how do I accomplish the same feats that I would use ‘mid’ for, but having the output be usable numbers, and not numbers that Excel thinks is text? (I ended up having to do a “a1+a1-a1” game to convince Excel that what was in the a1 cell was actually a usable number.)

   Any insight?

   • Hi Steve,

     What do you mean exactly by “a1+a1+a1”? As far as I know, and as what I’ve double-checked– your
     complaint–, I don’t get that type of result unless through concatenation “a1&a1&a1”. But
     adding texts would result VALUE# error.

     Anyway, even as texts, numbers get treated as numbers by excel except that they’re indented
     to the left instead of to the right.

     But I’m not closing this one without a neat solution:
     Data E5: 12432
     Use INT or VALUE(if you have decimals)

     =INT(MID(E5,1,3)) or  =VALUE(MID(E5,1,3))
     =INT(MID(E5,1,4)) or  =VALUE(MID(E5,1,4))
     result: 4 + 3
     All indented to the right and behaving like numbers
     as they should.
     

     OR….

     Maybe, you need to:
     1) Go to Excel Options
     2) Click Advanced
     3) Scroll down to : Display options for this worksheet
     4) Uncheck: Show Formulas in cells instead of their
     calculated results
     5) It would also help by copying and pasting them as values
     and converting them to numbers/numeric formats.

     Cheers.

     CarloE

3. Nice tip indeed! I tried to re-use some of it for a problem I have at work but did not manage to make it work! I need to only select part of the text written as below:
   US60/TAT520,423
   US60/PEL588N,508
   I would like to extract only the middle text TAT520 or PEL588N. The issue is that the number of letters or figures are not always the same. Only “US60/” and “,423” is fixed (text or figures can change but it’s always 4 letters or figures + / and ,+3 figures). I managed to extract only TAT520,423 using =MID(D5,FIND(“/”,D5)+1,LEN(D5)-4) but I could not get rid off the ,423 too. Would you know how to do this Mynda?
   Thanks for your help.
   Karine

   • Hi Karine,

     In your case I would use the dead-easy Text to Columns. I say in your case because you have two consistent delimiters; the forward slash and comma.

     More on Text to Columns here.

     Kind regards,

     Mynda.

   • We could use the combination of MID, FIND and CHAR.

     The ASCII Value for:
     “/” is Char(47)
     “,” is Char(44)

     Let say your data are in cells:
     A1 US60/TAT520,423
     A2 US60/PEL588N,508

     Try this formula in cell B1:
     =MID(A1,FIND(CHAR(47),A1)+1,(FIND(CHAR(44),A1)-1)-FIND(CHAR(47),A1))

     I know it is very late (haha), but I hope it could help others in the future.

     • Cheers, Mike. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

4. It is a very good tip. I liked the second one (Non-Formula Approach) because my end users are not that much formula savy.

   Thanks for sharing such a nice tip. Keep posting.

   Raju Padaria
   FAG Bearings India Ltd.
   Vadodara (India)
   P & I Schaeffler, India
   Business Excellence

   • Thanks, Raju 🙂

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