If you are getting #NAME! error you most likely have placed the function in
the wrong place
Use Tools | Macro | VBA editor
Make sure your workbook is select in the Project window (left hand panel)
Use Insert | Module
Past my function in the module window
Still not working? Send me a private message (remove TRUENORTH)
best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
remove caps from email
"NunRacer" wrote in message
...
I've tried the first more simple formulas and yes yours works better
because
occasionaly i do have names with no preceding text. Also another problem
is
that some names have 2 first names which really throws things off. I
already
have master list of names about 400 or so that i do a vlookup and where
the
final result is the person first name with the last 3 letters of their
last
name eg. Joe Blo and their position in the company.
As of yet i havnt been able to get the macro to work, comes out as #name?
"Rick Rothstein (MVP - VB)" wrote:
I'm not trying to divert you from Bernard's solution, but given you said
you
were sort of new to Excel, I thought you might have missed the point
behind
the formulas Harlan and I have been writing back and forth about,
particularly the last one by each of us. Each of them can retrieve the
names
you are looking for without the need for a separately maintained "master
list" (that is, you do not need a Mylist like from Bernard's posting).
Just
put either of our last formulas in A1 and then copy them down as needed.
They will retrieve, and re-order, whatever names are contained inside the
text in column A, as long as those names are separated by a comma
followed
by a single space... and they will do it automatically, without needing a
separately maintained list to check against. By the way, the only
difference
between Harlan's and my last posted formulas has to do with where the
names
can occur within the text... my formula (a modification of Harlan's by
the
way) will allow the names to be at the beginning of the text whereas
Harlan's requires some non-name text to precede the names.
Rick
"NunRacer" wrote in message
...
I think this is what i'm looking for now to make it work :)
I'm sort of new to excel.
Thanks everyone for the great responses.
"Bernard Liengme" wrote:
Somewhere in my workbook (it matter not where) I have a range called
Mylist.
I contains the names
Blow, Joe
Liengme, Bernard
Smith, Anne
Taylor, George
but, of course, it could be longer.
In A1 and A2 I have your data
3-PKR11500 TGDL1 TAYLOR, GEORGE 15:00 - 23:00 x
3-SP12300 TGDS2 BLOW, JOE 23:00 - 7:00 x
In B1 and B2 I call a UDF with =getname(A1,mylist)
The UDF is:
Function getname(mycell, mylist)
mycount = mylist.Count
getname = "not found"
For j = 1 To mycount
testname = UCase(mylist(j).Value)
whatname = mycell.Value
MyPos = InStr(whatname, testname)
If MyPos < 0 Then
getname = mylist(j)
Exit For
End If
Next
End Function
The formulas return the correct names from MyList
Need help with VBA? See David McRitchie's site on "getting started"
with
VBA
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm
best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
remove caps from email
"NunRacer" wrote in message
...
I've tried searching for some solutions to my problem but havnt
found
anything that really helps me.
I want to extract a persons name (the name is mixed up with other
useless
info, and doesnt follow the same format) from a cell that matches
the
names i
have in a Database.
so example would be
3-PKR11500 TGDL1 TAYLOR, GEORGE 15:00 - 23:00 x
3-SP12300 TGDS2 BLOW, JOE 23:00 - 7:00 x
So i need a formula to pull the name out by comparing it to the
existing
names in the database.
The end result needs to be just their name.
Thank You.