Saving two non-consecutive columns

[AnotherExcelNb]

Hi,

I have Excel 2000.

If I have columns A B C D E how do I copy A and C only (at the same time) and paste them into a new workbook? I get a popup saying it's not possible.

I don't want to copy one column at a time in case I make a mistake and item 1 in column A no longer lines up with item 1 in column C (I'll be performing this at least daily and the results will go on a website)

Thanks!

[arthurbr]

Hi,

I have Excel 2000.

If I have columns A B C D E how do I copy A and C only (at the same time) and paste them into a new workbook? I get a popup saying it's not possible.

I don't want to copy one column at a time in case I make a mistake and item 1 in column A no longer lines up with item 1 in column C (I'll be performing this at least daily and the results will go on a website)

Thanks!

Hi

It is possible but the two copied ranges have to be the same length

Cheers

[AnotherExcelNb]

How do I do it then, please?

[arthurbr]

Select your first range while pressing the Ctrl Key
Then select the second range still holding the key down( same range length)
Ctrl+C
Go to your new sheet
Paste

That's it

[AnotherExcelNb]

Thank you!

That was easy.

I now have A and C next to each other
I've inserted a new column between them so that I now have A B C
B is blank
I want to populate B with the same character

For example:
A B C
1 z a
2 z b
3 z c
4 z d

Is there a quick way of doing that rather than doing it manually?

Thank you again

[martindwilson]

just enter what you want in first cell and the one below it
then select both cells. left click on bottom right (small black square), keep mouse button pressed and drag down the column
or highlite the cells in the column required
type character
then ctrl+enter

[AnotherExcelNb]

That's clever.

My next problem is that I don't want to use any old character, but a double arrow =>

When I try to populate the cells by the method martindwilson describes it basically won't let me, presumably because this is a character that Excel uses. It's not the end of the world, because I could populate the cells with something like zzz and then save it to text and do a search and replace

I'm aiming for a text file like this

1 => 6
2 => 11
3 => 4
4 => 17

i.e. an array that can be used in php

Still, it might be one last task to do. Is there a way to populate the cells with a double arrow? =>

Thanks again

[martindwilson]

ok if your bits are in a1 and c1 try this in b1
=A1&" => "&C1
which you can then copy paste special values to anywhere you want
on the spread sheet or just to a text file

remove spaces between quotes if requireD
you can click drag this down to autofill

[AnotherExcelNb]

That is very, very cool.

I had to put the =A1&" => "&C1 in the top bit immediately above the spreadsheet.

Now - almost last thing - how do I get commas after the array?

So that I end up with:

1 => 5,
2 => 7,
5 => 11

[martindwilson]

=A1&" => "&C1&"," perhaps?
the & simply joins the contents together , text has to be inside quotes " "

[AnotherExcelNb]

That works perfectly.

Thanks very much for your help, and I'll leave it there!