Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 4, 2018)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Tom has a worksheet that contains about 20,000 cells full of textual data. From within these cells he needs to extract a specific pattern of text. The pattern is ##-##### where each # is a digit. This pattern does not appear at a set place in each cell. Tom wonders if there is a way to extract the desired information.
There are several ways that you can approach this problem, and the correct solution for your needs will depend on the characteristics of the data with which you are working. If you know that the only place in your data that you will have a dash is within your pattern, then you can key off of the presence of the dash by using a formula such as the following:
=MID(A1,FIND("-",A1)-2,8)
This finds the dash and then grabs the eight characters beginning two characters to the left of the dash. This obviously will not work if there are dashes in other places in the text or if it is possible to have "patterns" that include non-digits (such as 12-34B32) and you want those excluded. In that case you'll need a much more complex formula:
=IF(ISERROR(INT(MID(A1, FIND("-", A1, 1)-2, 2)) & INT(MID( A1, FIND("-", A1, 1)+1, 5))), "", MID(A1, FIND("-", A1)-2, 8))
This includes an error checking component that finds out if the characters just before the dash and just after the dash contain anything other than digits. If they do, then nothing is returned.
The one thing that these formulaic approaches don't do is handle those situations where there may be more than one occurrence of the pattern within the same cell. In that case, a macro is the best approach. The following will extract the valid patterns and place them in a new worksheet called "Results".
Sub ExtractPattern() On Error Resume Next Set SourceSheet = ActiveSheet Set TargetSheet = ActiveWorkbook.Sheets("Results") If Err = 0 Then Worksheets("Results").Delete End If Worksheets.Add ActiveSheet.Name = "Results" Set TargetSheet = ActiveSheet Cells(1, 1).Value = "Found Codes" Cells(1, 1).Font.Bold = True iTargetRow = 2 SourceSheet.Select Selection.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeLastCell).Select Range(Selection, Cells(1)).Select For Each c In Selection.Cells If c.Value Like "*##-#####*" Then sRaw = c.Value iPos = InStr(sRaw, "-") Do While iPos > 0 If iPos < 3 Then sRaw = " " & sRaw iPos = iPos + 2 End If sTemp = Mid(sRaw, iPos - 2, 8) sRaw = Mid(sRaw, iPos + 6, Len(sRaw)) If sTemp Like "##-#####" Then TargetSheet.Cells(iTargetRow, 1) = sTemp iTargetRow = iTargetRow + 1 Else sRaw = Mid(sTemp, 4, 5) & sRaw End If iPos = InStr(sRaw, "-") Loop End If Next c End Sub
Note that the macro uses the Like function in two places. The first instance determines if the pattern occurs anywhere in the cell, and the second instance is used to determine if the extracted characters exactly match the desired pattern.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (7348) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Extracting a Pattern from within Text.
Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!
Need to figure out the lowest score in a range of scores? Here's the formulas to get the information you need.
Discover MoreReplacing one character in a text value with another character is easy. All you need to do is use the SUBSTITUTE ...
Discover MoreWant to know the letters assigned by Excel to a particular column? Excel normally deals with column numbers, but you can ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2018-08-04 05:27:43
Rick Rothstein
Here is another, more compact way to code the For..Next loop shown in your macro...
For Each C In Selection.Cells
Dashes = Split(" " & C & " ", "-")
For x = 0 To UBound(Dashes) - 1
If Dashes(x) Like "*[!0-9]##" And Dashes(x + 1) Like "#####[!0-9]*" Then
TargetSheet.Cells(iTargetRow, 1) = Right(Dashes(x), 2) & "-" & Left(Dashes(x + 1), 5)
iTargetRow = iTargetRow + 1
End If
Next
Next C
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments