this really helped - thanks.

i did need to copy three columns of data and then apply that line
to each "CR" value. i then referenced the original columns.

MANY THANKS!



"Toppers" wrote:

Try:

=LEFT(A1,LEN(A1)-2)*-1

HTH

"Dave o" wrote:

i have a spreadsheet with lots of numbers downloaded from our AS$)) system.
unfortunately, the columns have valid numbers and numbers like "******.**CR"
(* = a valid number).

i cannot get excel to convert the "CR" at the end of the number to a minus
sign in the front of the number.


any ideas?