importing undelimited text file data, character-by-character

I am trying to import a text file into an Excel worksheet so that each
character goes into a separate cell. There is no character which delimits the
characters which comprise the data (ie. the data looks like this: '1023B4'
and worksheet should have '1' in the first cell, '0' in the next, '2' in the
next, and so on.
At the moment I have used OpenText to import all the data into the first
cell and then used string functions to copy the Nth character into the Nth
cell. However, some of my data from the text file looks like a very large
number when imported to the worksheet and appears as something like
'1.62234211131231E+32'. I have changes the cell number format in various ways
and can get the number to APPEAR as it should in the first cell before I use
the string functions to move it to the appropriate cell. However, the number
it moves is always of the form '1.62234211131231E+32'.
Is there a way to turn off this representation of the data as a number ? Or
is there a better way to import each character into a separate cell ?

The text files will contain numerous lines of data in the way I have
described but the exact size will vary from file to file.

Excel 2002

You probably formatted the number like 0000000000000000000000000000000000
or something like that. Indeed splitting it will give you the original
number of digits.
Use (in a separate cell) =TEXT(A1,"0000000000000000000000000000000000") or
whatever format string you used: then it will take the number of digits that
you specify.

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten

"The Mos$" <The [email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I am trying to import a text file into an Excel worksheet so that each
> character goes into a separate cell. There is no character which delimits
> the
> characters which comprise the data (ie. the data looks like this: '1023B4'
> and worksheet should have '1' in the first cell, '0' in the next, '2' in
> the
> next, and so on.
> At the moment I have used OpenText to import all the data into the first
> cell and then used string functions to copy the Nth character into the Nth
> cell. However, some of my data from the text file looks like a very large
> number when imported to the worksheet and appears as something like
> '1.62234211131231E+32'. I have changes the cell number format in various
> ways
> and can get the number to APPEAR as it should in the first cell before I
> use
> the string functions to move it to the appropriate cell. However, the
> number
> it moves is always of the form '1.62234211131231E+32'.
> Is there a way to turn off this representation of the data as a number ?
> Or
> is there a better way to import each character into a separate cell ?
>
> The text files will contain numerous lines of data in the way I have
> described but the exact size will vary from file to file.
>
> Excel 2002

Thank you for your reply.

I have tried your suggestion in this way:

Cells(5, 2) = "=Text(" & Cells(5, 1) & ", 0)"

- the line is displayed as I hope but it still produces the same
'4.44444444222222E+22' in the formula box when the cell is selected. I also
have these lines:

Columns("A:A").Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0"

which allow the cell to be displayed as I want it to be:

44444444422222200000000

but the string is still copied like this:

'4.44444444222222E+22'

and the 17th and 18th characters are always copied as 'E' and '+' and the
2nd character is always '.'.

I feel I should make it clear that I am writing code so that a user can open
files of a similar format but where the number of characters in a line will
be unspecified and will vary.



"Niek Otten" wrote:

> You probably formatted the number like 0000000000000000000000000000000000
> or something like that. Indeed splitting it will give you the original
> number of digits.
> Use (in a separate cell) =TEXT(A1,"0000000000000000000000000000000000") or
> whatever format string you used: then it will take the number of digits that
> you specify.
>
> --
> Kind regards,
>
> Niek Otten
>
> "The Mos$" <The [email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >I am trying to import a text file into an Excel worksheet so that each
> > character goes into a separate cell. There is no character which delimits
> > the
> > characters which comprise the data (ie. the data looks like this: '1023B4'
> > and worksheet should have '1' in the first cell, '0' in the next, '2' in
> > the
> > next, and so on.
> > At the moment I have used OpenText to import all the data into the first
> > cell and then used string functions to copy the Nth character into the Nth
> > cell. However, some of my data from the text file looks like a very large
> > number when imported to the worksheet and appears as something like
> > '1.62234211131231E+32'. I have changes the cell number format in various
> > ways
> > and can get the number to APPEAR as it should in the first cell before I
> > use
> > the string functions to move it to the appropriate cell. However, the
> > number
> > it moves is always of the form '1.62234211131231E+32'.
> > Is there a way to turn off this representation of the data as a number ?
> > Or
> > is there a better way to import each character into a separate cell ?
> >
> > The text files will contain numerous lines of data in the way I have
> > described but the exact size will vary from file to file.
> >
> > Excel 2002
>
>
>

Try with the many zeros (20 I think) format. I tested it. Works for me. Less
effort than posting another message.

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten

"The Mos$" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thank you for your reply.
>
> I have tried your suggestion in this way:
>
> Cells(5, 2) = "=Text(" & Cells(5, 1) & ", 0)"
>
> - the line is displayed as I hope but it still produces the same
> '4.44444444222222E+22' in the formula box when the cell is selected. I
> also
> have these lines:
>
> Columns("A:A").Select
> Selection.NumberFormat = "0"
>
> which allow the cell to be displayed as I want it to be:
>
> 44444444422222200000000
>
> but the string is still copied like this:
>
> '4.44444444222222E+22'
>
> and the 17th and 18th characters are always copied as 'E' and '+' and the
> 2nd character is always '.'.
>
> I feel I should make it clear that I am writing code so that a user can
> open
> files of a similar format but where the number of characters in a line
> will
> be unspecified and will vary.
>
>
>
> "Niek Otten" wrote:
>
>> You probably formatted the number like 0000000000000000000000000000000000
>> or something like that. Indeed splitting it will give you the original
>> number of digits.
>> Use (in a separate cell) =TEXT(A1,"0000000000000000000000000000000000")
>> or
>> whatever format string you used: then it will take the number of digits
>> that
>> you specify.
>>
>> --
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Niek Otten
>>
>> "The Mos$" <The [email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>> >I am trying to import a text file into an Excel worksheet so that each
>> > character goes into a separate cell. There is no character which
>> > delimits
>> > the
>> > characters which comprise the data (ie. the data looks like this:
>> > '1023B4'
>> > and worksheet should have '1' in the first cell, '0' in the next, '2'
>> > in
>> > the
>> > next, and so on.
>> > At the moment I have used OpenText to import all the data into the
>> > first
>> > cell and then used string functions to copy the Nth character into the
>> > Nth
>> > cell. However, some of my data from the text file looks like a very
>> > large
>> > number when imported to the worksheet and appears as something like
>> > '1.62234211131231E+32'. I have changes the cell number format in
>> > various
>> > ways
>> > and can get the number to APPEAR as it should in the first cell before
>> > I
>> > use
>> > the string functions to move it to the appropriate cell. However, the
>> > number
>> > it moves is always of the form '1.62234211131231E+32'.
>> > Is there a way to turn off this representation of the data as a number
>> > ?
>> > Or
>> > is there a better way to import each character into a separate cell ?
>> >
>> > The text files will contain numerous lines of data in the way I have
>> > described but the exact size will vary from file to file.
>> >
>> > Excel 2002
>>
>>
>>

it may be a bit more complicated: the number of zeros in the format string
depends on the last two digits of the number.
Post again in this thread if you have problems with that

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten

"Niek Otten" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:u9$H%[email protected]...
> Try with the many zeros (20 I think) format. I tested it. Works for me.
> Less effort than posting another message.
>
> --
> Kind regards,
>
> Niek Otten
>
> "The Mos$" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Thank you for your reply.
>>
>> I have tried your suggestion in this way:
>>
>> Cells(5, 2) = "=Text(" & Cells(5, 1) & ", 0)"
>>
>> - the line is displayed as I hope but it still produces the same
>> '4.44444444222222E+22' in the formula box when the cell is selected. I
>> also
>> have these lines:
>>
>> Columns("A:A").Select
>> Selection.NumberFormat = "0"
>>
>> which allow the cell to be displayed as I want it to be:
>>
>> 44444444422222200000000
>>
>> but the string is still copied like this:
>>
>> '4.44444444222222E+22'
>>
>> and the 17th and 18th characters are always copied as 'E' and '+' and the
>> 2nd character is always '.'.
>>
>> I feel I should make it clear that I am writing code so that a user can
>> open
>> files of a similar format but where the number of characters in a line
>> will
>> be unspecified and will vary.
>>
>>
>>
>> "Niek Otten" wrote:
>>
>>> You probably formatted the number like
>>> 0000000000000000000000000000000000
>>> or something like that. Indeed splitting it will give you the original
>>> number of digits.
>>> Use (in a separate cell) =TEXT(A1,"0000000000000000000000000000000000")
>>> or
>>> whatever format string you used: then it will take the number of digits
>>> that
>>> you specify.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kind regards,
>>>
>>> Niek Otten
>>>
>>> "The Mos$" <The [email protected]> wrote in message
>>> news:[email protected]...
>>> >I am trying to import a text file into an Excel worksheet so that each
>>> > character goes into a separate cell. There is no character which
>>> > delimits
>>> > the
>>> > characters which comprise the data (ie. the data looks like this:
>>> > '1023B4'
>>> > and worksheet should have '1' in the first cell, '0' in the next, '2'
>>> > in
>>> > the
>>> > next, and so on.
>>> > At the moment I have used OpenText to import all the data into the
>>> > first
>>> > cell and then used string functions to copy the Nth character into the
>>> > Nth
>>> > cell. However, some of my data from the text file looks like a very
>>> > large
>>> > number when imported to the worksheet and appears as something like
>>> > '1.62234211131231E+32'. I have changes the cell number format in
>>> > various
>>> > ways
>>> > and can get the number to APPEAR as it should in the first cell before
>>> > I
>>> > use
>>> > the string functions to move it to the appropriate cell. However, the
>>> > number
>>> > it moves is always of the form '1.62234211131231E+32'.
>>> > Is there a way to turn off this representation of the data as a number
>>> > ?
>>> > Or
>>> > is there a better way to import each character into a separate cell ?
>>> >
>>> > The text files will contain numerous lines of data in the way I have
>>> > described but the exact size will vary from file to file.
>>> >
>>> > Excel 2002
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>