+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 14 of 14

Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-27-2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, England
    MS-Off Ver
    Excel 2007
    Posts
    10

    Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    Hello everyone,

    I've imported an excel spreadsheet from Google Webmaster Tools and all the information ends with a line break.

    Does anyone know how to remove hidden characters such as a line break from Excel 2010 at please?

    It is essential for the work I'm doing.

    Any help, is greatly appreciated.

    Thanks

    James

  2. #2
    Valued Forum Contributor
    Join Date
    10-26-2008
    Location
    Birmingham, UK
    MS-Off Ver
    All versions up to 2010
    Posts
    1,025

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    Hi James
    1. Press Ctrl+F to display the Find tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
    2. In the Find What box, hold down the Alt key as you type 0010 on the numeric keypad. It may not look like anything is in the Find What box, but the character is there.
    3. Click Replace All.
    Tony

  3. #3
    Forum Expert martindwilson's Avatar
    Join Date
    06-23-2007
    Location
    London,England
    MS-Off Ver
    office 97 ,2007
    Posts
    19,320

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    what is the character code? use =code(right(a1)) to get it
    you may be able to find replace in bulk bulk using that code by using find/replace find hold down alt key and type it as a 3 digit code adding a leading 0 if needed but you must use the number keypad (,its a bit hit and miss as it sometimes stops working )
    replace leave that blank hit return
    alternatively you can try =clean(a1) fill down then copy pasteback as paste/ special/ values
    or if that doesnt work you can try =SUBSTITUTE(A1,CHAR(10),"") where 10 corresponds with whatever code you discovered.
    or you could try text to columns and see if you can strip it off there,(just select column data/text to columns ,fixed width double click any breaks to remove them click finish) but to be sure we need to see a sample
    Last edited by martindwilson; 05-09-2013 at 10:26 AM.
    "Unless otherwise stated all my comments are directed at OP"

    Mojito connoisseur and now happily retired
    where does code go ?
    look here
    how to insert code

    how to enter array formula

    why use -- in sumproduct
    recommended reading
    wiki Mojito

    how to say no convincingly

    most important thing you need
    Martin Wilson: SPV
    and RSMBC

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-27-2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, England
    MS-Off Ver
    Excel 2007
    Posts
    10

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    Hi Tony,

    Sorry I've tried this and it hasn't worked.

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-27-2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, England
    MS-Off Ver
    Excel 2007
    Posts
    10

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    It is the line break which appears in the code.

  6. #6
    Forum Expert martindwilson's Avatar
    Join Date
    06-23-2007
    Location
    London,England
    MS-Off Ver
    office 97 ,2007
    Posts
    19,320

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    no good just saying its the line break ,what is its ascii value?

  7. #7
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-27-2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, England
    MS-Off Ver
    Excel 2007
    Posts
    10

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    It looks like a HTML character ¶ - I've looked on the ascii and it looks like it doesn't have one.

  8. #8
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-27-2012
    Location
    US
    MS-Off Ver
    Excel 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    That's a paragraph sign, or "Pilcrow". Ascii #244. HTML: ¶ ¶

    Can you post an example of the data that you are trying to modify to remove that symbol?
    Last edited by BoardGuy; 05-09-2013 at 11:32 AM.

  9. #9
    Forum Expert martindwilson's Avatar
    Join Date
    06-23-2007
    Location
    London,England
    MS-Off Ver
    office 97 ,2007
    Posts
    19,320

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    Did you use code(right(a1)) to get the code

  10. #10
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-27-2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, England
    MS-Off Ver
    Excel 2007
    Posts
    10

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    urls.xlsx

    Hi there, attached is the spreadsheet this is URLs from Google Webmaster Tools.

    When I copy and paste the URLs into Word there are hidden paragraphs.

    I've tried the suggestions recommended above.

    Thanks for all your help throughout this submission.

    Many thanks

  11. #11
    Forum Expert martindwilson's Avatar
    Join Date
    06-23-2007
    Location
    London,England
    MS-Off Ver
    office 97 ,2007
    Posts
    19,320

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    cant see anything when i open it all looks fine and seems ok when pasted into word
    ¶ shows as char 182
    have you tried copying it then paste into the find box of find/replace
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by martindwilson; 05-09-2013 at 12:28 PM.

  12. #12
    Registered User
    Join Date
    03-27-2013
    Location
    Yorkshire, England
    MS-Off Ver
    Excel 2007
    Posts
    10

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    Thanks for your help.

    The reason I require the characters to be hidden is so that the URLs go directly into a htacess file. This is what a website server reads. I've been told that hidden characters cause break the website and it's happened before.

    I've been following this tutorial: http://blog.search-mojo.com/2010/10/...4-quick-steps/

    It's worked fine in the past few weeks. But since, I've copied and pasted the source from Google Webmaster tools on this occasion it appears to include hidden characters.

  13. #13
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-27-2012
    Location
    US
    MS-Off Ver
    Excel 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    It might be worth it to just throw the text into notepad. Since there are not any filters or other settings, that will let you see any unexpected characters that are present. In Excel, I'm not seeing any symbols or extra chars. In Word, I'll get the paragraph markings only when symbols are turned on. I cannot select those characters to copy and paste, as they are added automatically by the program.

    It won't be much fun, but worst case, since it looks like most of your sites have the same domain, maybe just put the domain in one column, put the site path for each individual page in another column and CONCATENATE the two together.

  14. #14
    Forum Expert
    Join Date
    05-05-2015
    Location
    UK
    MS-Off Ver
    Microsoft Excel for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2402 Build 16.0.17328.20068) 64-bit
    Posts
    28,147

    Re: Remove Hidden Characters in Excel

    Removed ......
    If that takes care of your original question, please select Thread Tools from the menu link above and mark this thread as SOLVED.

+ Reply to Thread

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0 RC 1