using the wildcard ? in formulas
 

Hi,

Is it possible to use the wildcard character "?" in filenames used in
formulas for external links?

For example, I'd like to substitute the hjg with ???
='C:\Excel\[hjgbella.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2

to end up with:
='C:\Excel\[???bella.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2

I can't make it work.

If it can't work this way, can you think of another way I can do this? I
don't think "left" or "mid" or "right" will help me either.

What I need to be able to do is change these first three characters on
several hundred similar files with managers initials. But as managers come
and go, I need to change them without affecting the links.

Thanks,

Harold

using the wildcard ? in formulas
 

not too elegant, but find/replace might do the trick

or give each sales person a number rather than their initials for their
filename so the numbers can be re-used

otherwise you need to read up on address() and indirect() functions
it will be possible to do it using those but very convoluted


--
baxybaxy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
baxybaxy's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=35824
View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=556041