messy data

Hi All,

I have a problem with splitting some messy data and was hoping that
someone could help me!

I have a field which looks like this below:

category6-category5-category4-category3-category2-category1

which I want to turn into this below, but in there own seperate
columns:

A B C D E
F
category1 category2 category3 category4 category5 category6


NOW, the problem is that sometimes the field doesn't go all the way to
category6, it can go down to as little as category1 or category2 so
would look like the below:

category2-category1.

Can anyone help please?

Many Thanks
Adam

(Office XP, Windows XP Pro)

Data>Text To Columns, delimited with a separator of -

--

HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

"Adam" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi All,
>
> I have a problem with splitting some messy data and was hoping that
> someone could help me!
>
> I have a field which looks like this below:
>
> category6-category5-category4-category3-category2-category1
>
> which I want to turn into this below, but in there own seperate
> columns:
>
> A B C D E
> F
> category1 category2 category3 category4 category5 category6
>
>
> NOW, the problem is that sometimes the field doesn't go all the way to
> category6, it can go down to as little as category1 or category2 so
> would look like the below:
>
> category2-category1.
>
> Can anyone help please?
>
> Many Thanks
> Adam
>
> (Office XP, Windows XP Pro)
>

Yes, and then?

It's in separate columns, you could either move them, insert a heading and
sort by the heading. or whatever tickles you.

--

HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

"Adam" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Yes, and then?
>

But this still does not tackle the issue.

The columns are back to front in there layout.And some field strings
are longer than others.