ExcelBanter - View Single Post - How do I remove a space infront of text in a cell?

James Silverton

Hello, !
You wrote on 9 Oct 2006 16:53:41 -0700:

j James Silverton wrote:
?? Hello, daddylonglegs!
?? You wrote on Mon, 9 Oct 2006 15:31:02 -0700:
?? =CLEAN(A1)
??
?? I tried that and it does not work.

j Right. The problem I encounter is when I cut-and-paste a
j column of numbers from a posting that I am reading using
j Google Groups, the "numbers" are treated as text, and
j nothing seems to undo that. The reason: Google Groups has
j replaced some of the space and tab characters in the
j original posting (I have looked at the "original" source) --
j notably the first space or tab -- with char(160), which is a
j "non-breaking space" in the ANSI character set.

j FYI, one work-around is to cut-and-paste from the "original"
j source (click Show Options). Users of other newsreaders
j might not have this problem, as long as the non-breaking
j space character is not in the "original" source. (It never
j has been in the postings that I have seen.)

j Another work-around is to cut from the formatted posting
j (not the "original" source), paste into a file created using
j Notepad, then use Import External Data to bring into Excel.

?? CLEAN removes non-printable characters according to HELP

j Right. And apparently the "non-breaking space" is
j considered a printable character, as arguably perhaps it
j should be just as its cousin, the normal space character,
j is.

I suppose that if something like PureText does not work, the
more extensive editing features of Word might be used as an
intermediate step.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not