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Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

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    Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    Hello!


    I've come across a problem at work, where I have large spreadsheets with columns of cells like this:

    Apple ABC 123
    Pear de 4
    Banana 665 F

    That is, one relevant word followed by some other, irregular, stuff. Then a linebreak, a new relevant word, and other stuff. Note that the number of lines in each cell varies, from 0 to maybe ten.

    I need to copy-paste this into a Sharepoint sheet, and it needs to be on this form:

    Apple; Pear; Banana

    My first thought was that this would be a great thing to automate, and hence a reason to learn Excel macros, so I've bought Walkenbach's book "Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA". However, I'm quite lost, to say the least.

    So my questions to you, is:
    a) It is at all possible to create a VBA macro that transforms a column of text in the way that I want it?
    b) How? What structure and functions should the code have?
    c) Can you recommend me any "key words" or information sources for this specific type of macros? I've realized that VBA is usable for way more things than I thought, so I don't even know where to read in Walkenbach's book... or elsewhere.


    Thank you!

    Alfred

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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    Maybe a non VBA solution.

    With text to column.

    After that just add the values in column A together.

    =a1&", "&a2&", "&a3
    Notice my main language is not English.

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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    Hi Oeldere,

    Unofortunately that doesn't work, since it doesn't remove the "junk". Also, I can't get text to columns to separate the text where the line-breaks are.

    Alfred

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    Forum Expert jaslake's Avatar
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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    Hi adh2

    Welcome to the Forum!!!

    I'd take a stab at this were it not for this comment which could have several implications.
    Then a linebreak
    If you will, please attach a sample workbook. Make sure there is just enough data to demonstrate your need. Include a BEFORE sheet and an AFTER sheet in the workbook if needed to show the process you're trying to complete or automate. Make sure your desired results are shown, mock them up manually if necessary.

    INCLUDE ANY CODE YOU'RE USING OR HAVE TRIED.

    Remember to desensitize the data.

    Click on GO ADVANCED and use the paperclip icon to open the upload window.

    If you want this try Split, Replace...
    Can you recommend me any "key words" or information sources for this specific type of macros
    John

    If you have issues with Code I've provided, I appreciate your feedback.

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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    If you have a string of text in a cell, with line-breaks, you would 1st need to break that apart. The line-break is char(10)

    upload a small (clean) sample workbook (not a pic) of what you are working with, and what your expected outcome would look like.
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    Regards
    Ford

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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    Thank you, Jaslake and FDibbins for you replies.

    I have attached a workbook that illustrates what I want to acheive, with a "Before" and a "After" sheet.
    The fruit names are what I want to keep, the random letters, numbers and symbols should be discarded.

    I still don't see how to take apart the lines. It isn't possible to enter "char(10)" in text-to-columns?
    Also, the line-breaks are the only things that identifies the useful words from the useless ones. So the line-breaks would need to be removed and replaced by semicolons in one single step. And to make it even trickier, the number of words on each line, as well as the number of lines in each cell, is irregular.

    Alfred
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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    here's my attempt using UDF

    i cant figure a way to split text up where there is nothing in between characters besides chr(10) though

    system wise..i cant figure it out...

    trimmed down version of the UDF

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    ps udf does not work for multiple cells in range...only 1 cell
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    Last edited by humdingaling; 07-13-2015 at 03:30 AM. Reason: updated UDF
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    Forum Expert jaslake's Avatar
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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    Hi Alfred

    It's convoluted but it works on your sample data.
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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    thanks for jaslake code i was able to figure out how to complete the UDF

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    ps in testing
    if a single line item has a chr(10) at the end...it will give an error as the base assumption used for this code was number of chr(10) = number of splits
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    Last edited by humdingaling; 07-13-2015 at 08:20 PM. Reason: remove debug line

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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    Thank you Humdingaling and Jaslake!

    I cant get it to work fully on my private computer (a mac), and I wasn't able to access Excelforum.com from work (apparently the site was blocked by the corporate internet filter ;P).

    But I've realized that Excel doesn't work identically on Mac and PC, so I have emailed the codes to my work email so will try them during the day!

    On a side-note, one of the differences I noticed yesterday is that on my PC at work I can replace the line-breaks with, for instance, three dashes, using the substitute function;
    =SUBSTITUTE(A1;CHAR(10);"---")
    On my Mac, this doesn't work; it will remove the line breaks but only replace them with a single space. I naively thought Excel would always be Excel, now I know better

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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    hmm try "-@-" instead?

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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    Nope, still doesn't work. Neither do numbers, referencing another cell with text, or letters.

    Capture d’écran 2015-07-14 à 07.54.11.png

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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    So, I tried your solutions today and they both worked perfectly!

    Thank you so much, you saved me heaps of time and helped me learn a lot of VBA!

  14. #14
    Forum Expert jaslake's Avatar
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    Re: Keep first word in each line, separate by semicolon and remove everything else

    You're welcome...glad I could help. Thanks for the Rep.

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