Delete all rows containing "?"?

Let's say that the string is in A2, you could use... =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("~?",A2)),1,0) in another cell then use a filter to group all the 1s together then delete them in a batch.

BTW, you can apply a filter to the column by just using the ~? in the filter instead of using the formula I gave then the filter.

Originally Posted by Sam Capricci

BTW, you can apply a filter to the column by just using the ~? in the filter instead of using the formula I gave then the filter.

[S]Hi, this doesn't work for me, unfortunately - it doesn't hide rows that CONTAIN "?" character.[/S]
Ignore the above. It DID work after all !

You can add multiple conditions to filters, can you?

I now also want to exclude rows that contain a specific work like "apples"..

I did an example for you with a filter and hiding the rows with the ?

You can add other filters too by using and / or for additional restrictions.

Plus, I'd like to note that your post title says to delete all rows... but if you don't use the formula I gave you in post #2 or another formula and then sort to group all those with a 1 together then delete those rows, you'll need VBA to actually delete rows with those "?" in them. Formulas can't delete rows.

my version of excel (for Apple) does not have the ability to filter on three variables but I believe the MS versions do allow for three variables.
So I'm re-uploading the workbook with the filter applied for two variables, the ~? and string123. Just select to filter by: does not contain ~? and next filter is AND does not contain string123, if you have the ability to apply a third filter then also AND does not contain stringxyz.

Using the reverse for deleting, filter on contains ~? and contains string123 (and if you can select a third) and contains stringxyz, then when all are visible, highlight those rows and delete them.

If you can only apply two filters you could apply those two, then delete the selected rows you don't want then apply the third filter and delete those rows.

Ok, about the last one I can think of without referring you to VBA is to do it with an if statement.
so I put this if statement in col B that will return a 1 if it encounters ? or stringxyz or string123 and a 0 otherwise.

=IF(OR(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("~?",A2)),ISNUMBER(SEARCH("string123",A2)),ISNUMBER(SEARCH("stringxyz",A2))),1,0)
you can extend the if or statement to contain other content.
then filter on col B to remove all the rows that contain a 1.

This is a fabulous proposal - I couldn't even conceptualise how best to attack this, so thanks for opening my brain to it.

I'll try and tweak the IF statement to capture all the bits I want excluded

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