Ok... another approach - try

msgbox len(str) * " """ & str & """"

which should display

3 "543"

to make sure there are no extra characters in there.

Sam


"Philosophaie" wrote:

I am using what is already in the cell from "Left and Right" operations to a
bunch of similar data strings. I have ran my own trimming operation thru

if left(a,1)="-" then a=Right(a,2)

but it will still not let me take the cint or cdbl of any of the data.

So the quote sign is irrelevant.