In a CSV file I have values like "3-1". Excel interprets this as a date:
3/1/05. What encoding can I use in my CSV files to force Excel to read it as
a literal string? I have already tried double quotes around the string.

I am using Excel 2003.

(Maybe) you probably had the cells formatted as a date when you imported the
file.
Or When you import treat dates as text.


See the options in the Import wizard and try different scenarios.



"Tim G" wrote:

In a CSV file I have values like "3-1". Excel interprets this as a date:
3/1/05. What encoding can I use in my CSV files to force Excel to read it as
a literal string? I have already tried double quotes around the string.

I am using Excel 2003.

I'm actually creating the CSV file from another program and using it to
launch Excel automatically so I do not get the file open wizard. I do want
this process to be automated.

"exceluserforeman" wrote:

(Maybe) you probably had the cells formatted as a date when you imported the
file.
Or When you import treat dates as text.


See the options in the Import wizard and try different scenarios.



"Tim G" wrote:

In a CSV file I have values like "3-1". Excel interprets this as a date:
3/1/05. What encoding can I use in my CSV files to force Excel to read it as
a literal string? I have already tried double quotes around the string.

I am using Excel 2003.

How about:

="3-1"

Another way is to use 3-1, but rename the .csv to .txt.

Then when you do File|open, you'll see the text import wizard and you'll be able
to choose Text for that field.

Tim G wrote:

In a CSV file I have values like "3-1". Excel interprets this as a date:
3/1/05. What encoding can I use in my CSV files to force Excel to read it as
a literal string? I have already tried double quotes around the string.

I am using Excel 2003.

--

Dave Peterson

Dave:

The ="3-1" works great. Thanks!

-Tim

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

How about:

="3-1"

Another way is to use 3-1, but rename the .csv to .txt.

Then when you do File|open, you'll see the text import wizard and you'll be able
to choose Text for that field.

Tim G wrote:

In a CSV file I have values like "3-1". Excel interprets this as a date:
3/1/05. What encoding can I use in my CSV files to force Excel to read it as
a literal string? I have already tried double quotes around the string.

I am using Excel 2003.

--

Dave Peterson