I had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago. Modify my old code below.
the 1st macro will put on the worksheet what the data actually looks like.
column A is the character and column B the Ascii code. the second program
will extract the asci data from the unicode only keepin the odd characters.

Sub test()

Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = -2, _
ForAppending = 3

Dim ReadData

TABChar = 9


ReadFile = Application _
.GetOpenFilename(FileFilter:="Text Files (*.txt), *.txt", _
Title:="Select Read File")
If ReadFile = False Then
MsgBox ("No file Selected - Exiting Macro")
End If

Open ReadFile For Binary As #1


'Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
'Set fin = fs.OpenTextFile(ReadFile, _
' ForReading, TristateTrue)

ActiveSheet.Cells.ClearContents

RowCount = 1
Do While Not EOF(1)
ReadData = Input(1, #1)
' ReadData = fin.Read(1)
If Not EOF(1) Then
Range("A" & RowCount) = ReadData
Range("B" & RowCount) = Asc(ReadData)
RowCount = RowCount + 1
End If
Loop
Exit Sub

fin.Close

End Sub

Sub GetText()
Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = -2, _
ForAppending = 3


LFChar = 10


ReadFile = Application _
.GetOpenFilename(FileFilter:="Text Files (*.txt), *.txt", _
Title:="Select Read File")
If ReadFile = False Then
MsgBox ("No file Selected - Exiting Macro")
End If


Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set fin = fs.OpenTextFile(ReadFile, _
ForReading, TristateTrue)

ActiveSheet.Cells.ClearContents

'Only Read Odd bytes, data i s unicode
Odd = True

ReadLine = ""

RowCount = 1
FirstRow = True
Do While fin.AtEndOfStream < True
ReadData = fin.Read(1)

If Odd = True Then
a = Asc(ReadData)
Select Case Asc(ReadData)
'ignore UniCode
Case Is = 128
'skip

Case Else
ReadLine = ReadLine & ReadData
If Asc(ReadData) = LFChar Then
Range("A" & RowCount) = ReadLine
ReadLine = ""
RowCount = RowCount + 1
End If
End Select

Odd = False
Else
Odd = True
End If

Loop

fin.Close


End Sub


"George J" wrote:

It appears to be a ? that when replaced removes all the text from the cell.

I uploaded the small file i was using as an example, one of the larger files
and an image of what is being seen in the VBEwhen trying to get the text into
a cell.

http://www.savefile.com/projects/808757320
Thanks for lookign at this.

"joel" wrote:

I don't download files from these two sites because they create Ad-Ware on my
PC. Use something like Savefile.com instead.

There are some white characters ( control characters) that you don't see
that is causing the problems.

"George J" wrote:

Hmmm

When i look at the text from the file in the VB Editor, it looks like:
http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=new1f.jpg
and displays in the cell as:
ÿþM

But in the text file it is displayed as "Mar 2003".
When i change the encoding manually for that file from unicode to ANSI, it
appears in both the VBE and in the cell as "Mar 2003".
This is the file:
http://www.filefactory.com/dlf/f/aga...0/n/text20_txt

I thought i might be able to save the files that are currently there only
with ANSI encoding. Would i need to try doing this using sendkeys and
notepad?


"joel" wrote:

Saving as text won't remove the control characters. Unicode is really 16
bit data and ascii is 8 bit data. Saving as text just changes the byte
structure of the data and doesn't eliminate the data


Unicode

1234
5678
9ABC


Ascii

12
34
56
78
9A
BC