you can do a find and replace. in the find box enter
°C
that's [space] alt+0176 C
and leave the replace field blank. click replace all and voila everything
is now a number that can be formatted how you like.

if you want to formatted to show the °C you can change the custom number
format to something like this
0.0 "°C"
this will make the cells look like 23.6 °C but still retain the numerical
value.

"Azeem!" wrote:

Hi!
I have data for temperature and humidity values that is fed in every half an
hour and i have to process data for 3 years so there are lots of readings.
My problem is that i have the value (26.0 °C) like this.
Now the problem is Excel won't recognise it as a number and so i can't sort
it or multiply it or whatever. Plus i have to do over say 60,000 such values.
Number formatting of the cell in any way does not help. i change the format
of the cell and it doesn't work. the cell isn't identified as having a number.
Can anyone help me on how can i change the format of the cell or anything
else to make it a numerical value?