The apostrophe has been added either by someone or when the data was
exported from another application and in Excel, it means the cell contents
is text. This will also include when a number is in the cell.

1. To remove it, in a blank cell type the number 0.
2. Now copy the cell with 0 in it.
3. Highlight the cells containing the apostrophe and Right Click on the
highlighted area
4. Now Paste Special.
5. Under the Operation part of the Paste Special Menu, select the "Add"
radio button and click OK.
6. The apostrophe has now gone.

--
Saruman

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"childothe1980s" wrote in message
...
Hello:

In a column of Excel cells, I have the following character mask:

0000-0000-000-000-

The first character has an apostrophe in front of it. I want to create a
column to the right that has these characters and in the above format but
without the apostrophe that appears at the beginning.

What formula can I use to accomplish this?

Thanks!

childofhte1980s