Find nth occurrence and replace with ":"
 

I am altering REPLACE functions for different parts of my data. This
works OK, but it would be more efficient if I could apply one function
to all of my data.

Data:
Column A
R1 volume measured by...
R4 mass times...
R11 weight is related...
R12 height
R100 distance and time
R124 force

I want to place a colon after the numbers; e.g., R1: volume...; R12:
height. If I knew how to find the first occurrence of a space, I think
I could just find those spaces and replace them with a colon and a
space. My work-around is to use REPLACE this way:

I apply this formula to cells with one-digit numbers:
=REPLACE(A1, 3, 1, ": ")

Then I slightly change the formula for cells with two-digit numbers:
=REPLACE(A1, 4, 1, ": ") ... and so on.

Can someone show me a better way of doing this? Thank you!


--
marlea
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Hi,

Use,
=REPLACE(A1,FIND(" ",A1),1,": ")

Regards,
B. R. Ramachandran


"marlea" wrote:


I am altering REPLACE functions for different parts of my data. This
works OK, but it would be more efficient if I could apply one function
to all of my data.

Data:
Column A
R1 volume measured by...
R4 mass times...
R11 weight is related...
R12 height
R100 distance and time
R124 force

I want to place a colon after the numbers; e.g., R1: volume...; R12:
height. If I knew how to find the first occurrence of a space, I think
I could just find those spaces and replace them with a colon and a
space. My work-around is to use REPLACE this way:

I apply this formula to cells with one-digit numbers:
=REPLACE(A1, 3, 1, ": ")

Then I slightly change the formula for cells with two-digit numbers:
=REPLACE(A1, 4, 1, ": ") ... and so on.

Can someone show me a better way of doing this? Thank you!


--
marlea
------------------------------------------------------------------------
marlea's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=26209
View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=473524

Try this:

=REPLACE(A1,FIND(" ",A1,1),1,": ")

Does this work for you?


--
swatsp0p


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=SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",": ")

should work for numbers of any length and replace all spaces with colon and
space.


On Wed, 5 Oct 2005 13:54:07 -0500, marlea
wrote:


I am altering REPLACE functions for different parts of my data. This
works OK, but it would be more efficient if I could apply one function
to all of my data.

Data:
Column A
R1 volume measured by...
R4 mass times...
R11 weight is related...
R12 height
R100 distance and time
R124 force

I want to place a colon after the numbers; e.g., R1: volume...; R12:
height. If I knew how to find the first occurrence of a space, I think
I could just find those spaces and replace them with a colon and a
space. My work-around is to use REPLACE this way:

I apply this formula to cells with one-digit numbers:
=REPLACE(A1, 3, 1, ": ")

Then I slightly change the formula for cells with two-digit numbers:
=REPLACE(A1, 4, 1, ": ") ... and so on.

Can someone show me a better way of doing this? Thank you!

Ah, I see, I was supposed to use REPLACE with FIND. Thank you so much!
This is perfect!

swatsp0p Wrote:
Try this:

=REPLACE(A1,FIND(" ",A1,1),1,": ")

Does this work for you?


--
marlea
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=473524