I am looking for a way to align a column by the decimal point. My data is
both numeric and character. I could make the data all character, but I'm
still not sure how to align string data by a particular character.
i.e.-
101.23**
1.26*
1.11***
12.12*
1.05
Help is appreciated.

Use the cutsom format ???.??? Highlight the range you want rightclick
== format cells == number tab == custom, then paste this into the
textbox. Also look in the help section "Guidelines for custom number
formats"

Sandy


notloiseweiss wrote:
I am looking for a way to align a column by the decimal point. My data is
both numeric and character. I could make the data all character, but I'm
still not sure how to align string data by a particular character.
i.e.-
101.23**
1.26*
1.11***
12.12*
1.05
Help is appreciated.

tried that and it doesn't seem to work. It's my understanding (from reading
other posts) that custom formats only work for numeric data???

"Sandy" wrote:

Use the cutsom format ???.??? Highlight the range you want rightclick
== format cells == number tab == custom, then paste this into the
textbox. Also look in the help section "Guidelines for custom number
formats"

Sandy


notloiseweiss wrote:
I am looking for a way to align a column by the decimal point. My data is
both numeric and character. I could make the data all character, but I'm
still not sure how to align string data by a particular character.
i.e.-
101.23**
1.26*
1.11***
12.12*
1.05
Help is appreciated.

You can try this formula to pad blank spaces at the end to make the decimals
line up. A couple of things to note... You will need to use a proportional
font such as Courier and the number 5 in the formula refers to thenumber of
characters after the decimal. It must be at least as large as the max number
of characters after the decimal...
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"notloiseweiss" wrote:

tried that and it doesn't seem to work. It's my understanding (from reading
other posts) that custom formats only work for numeric data???

"Sandy" wrote:

Use the cutsom format ???.??? Highlight the range you want rightclick
== format cells == number tab == custom, then paste this into the
textbox. Also look in the help section "Guidelines for custom number
formats"

Sandy


notloiseweiss wrote:
I am looking for a way to align a column by the decimal point. My data is
both numeric and character. I could make the data all character, but I'm
still not sure how to align string data by a particular character.
i.e.-
101.23**
1.26*
1.11***
12.12*
1.05
Help is appreciated.

Thanks Jim,

I think you forgot to include the formula you are suggesting...?

Lois

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

You can try this formula to pad blank spaces at the end to make the decimals
line up. A couple of things to note... You will need to use a proportional
font such as Courier and the number 5 in the formula refers to thenumber of
characters after the decimal. It must be at least as large as the max number
of characters after the decimal...
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"notloiseweiss" wrote:

tried that and it doesn't seem to work. It's my understanding (from reading
other posts) that custom formats only work for numeric data???

"Sandy" wrote:

Use the cutsom format ???.??? Highlight the range you want rightclick
== format cells == number tab == custom, then paste this into the
textbox. Also look in the help section "Guidelines for custom number
formats"

Sandy


notloiseweiss wrote:
I am looking for a way to align a column by the decimal point. My data is
both numeric and character. I could make the data all character, but I'm
still not sure how to align string data by a particular character.
i.e.-
101.23**
1.26*
1.11***
12.12*
1.05
Help is appreciated.

Well that would help...

=A1& REPT(" ", 5 + FIND(".", A1) - LEN(A1))

--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"notloiseweiss" wrote:

Thanks Jim,

I think you forgot to include the formula you are suggesting...?

Lois

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

You can try this formula to pad blank spaces at the end to make the decimals
line up. A couple of things to note... You will need to use a proportional
font such as Courier and the number 5 in the formula refers to thenumber of
characters after the decimal. It must be at least as large as the max number
of characters after the decimal...
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"notloiseweiss" wrote:

tried that and it doesn't seem to work. It's my understanding (from reading
other posts) that custom formats only work for numeric data???

"Sandy" wrote:

Use the cutsom format ???.??? Highlight the range you want rightclick
== format cells == number tab == custom, then paste this into the
textbox. Also look in the help section "Guidelines for custom number
formats"

Sandy


notloiseweiss wrote:
I am looking for a way to align a column by the decimal point. My data is
both numeric and character. I could make the data all character, but I'm
still not sure how to align string data by a particular character.
i.e.-
101.23**
1.26*
1.11***
12.12*
1.05
Help is appreciated.

Clever solution, I like it...

I'm still disappointed that Excel doesn't seem to offer an option to align
columns by a particular character. The courier limitation is a bit
frustrating...

Anyway, thanks for the idea, didn't know about the REPT function...


"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

Well that would help...

=A1& REPT(" ", 5 + FIND(".", A1) - LEN(A1))

--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"notloiseweiss" wrote:

Thanks Jim,

I think you forgot to include the formula you are suggesting...?

Lois

"Jim Thomlinson" wrote:

You can try this formula to pad blank spaces at the end to make the decimals
line up. A couple of things to note... You will need to use a proportional
font such as Courier and the number 5 in the formula refers to thenumber of
characters after the decimal. It must be at least as large as the max number
of characters after the decimal...
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson


"notloiseweiss" wrote:

tried that and it doesn't seem to work. It's my understanding (from reading
other posts) that custom formats only work for numeric data???

"Sandy" wrote:

Use the cutsom format ???.??? Highlight the range you want rightclick
== format cells == number tab == custom, then paste this into the
textbox. Also look in the help section "Guidelines for custom number
formats"

Sandy


notloiseweiss wrote:
I am looking for a way to align a column by the decimal point. My data is
both numeric and character. I could make the data all character, but I'm
still not sure how to align string data by a particular character.
i.e.-
101.23**
1.26*
1.11***
12.12*
1.05
Help is appreciated.

Hello, Jim!
You wrote on Fri, 27 Oct 2006 13:02:02 -0700:

JT You can try this formula to pad blank spaces at the end to
JT make the decimals line up. A couple of things to note...
JT You will need to use a proportional font such as Courier

But Courier isn't a proportional font!


James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

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