Excel convert string to number code#
Excel convert string to number series#

The TEXT function can be used to convert numbers to text using a given number format. Another example is when you want to perform a lookup on numbers using wildcards, which can't be done with numeric values. Without the TEXT function, the number formatting will be stripped. 15 has been formatted with a percent symbol. For example, 'Sales last year increased by over 15%', where the number. One example is when you want to concatenate (join) a formatted number to text. Click in the field located below the Type: heading and type “ 0000”.Īnd there you have it a list with all of the needed characters.Normally, you want to maintain numeric values in Excel, because they can be used in formulas that perform numeric calculations. However, there are situations where converting numbers to text makes sense. In the Format Cells dialog box, select “ Custom” from the category list on the left.

select “More Number Formats…” located at the bottom of the dropdown.

In the following example, all part numbers must be 4 digits in length. If you have an existing list of values that should display a fixed number of positions, you can create a custom number style to fill in any missing digits with zeroes. Good news there is a way convert existing lists of numbers The reason for this is that Excel does not understand what these numbers represent or how many zeroes are missing from the entered values. Likewise, a list of part numbers would not have any leading zeroes inserted. If you were to take an existing list of postal codes and apply the Text number style to them, you will not magically see leading zeroes appear before 3-digit or 4-digit postal codes. When using the number styles approach, the cells must be converted BEFORE the data is entered.

select “Text” located at the bottom of the dropdown.

click the down arrow next to the Number Formatting tool on the Home ribbon.

select the cells that will contain the part numbers.

This will preserve any leading zeroes and exempt all values in those cells from any common aggregation functions. part numbers) are selected PRIOR to data entry and formatted with the TEXT style, all of the values entered in those cells from that point forward will be treated as text. Technique #2 – Conversion through number styles Here’s where a different technique comes to the rescue. That’s 100,000 additional keystrokes just to prevent the loss of the leading zeroes. Imagine having to enter in 100,000 part numbers and they all have a leading zero. Two Techniques for Converting Numbers to Text Technique #1 – Adding single quotesĪ very common practice when converting numbers to text is to add the single quote (or apostrophe) character to the beginning of the number.Īlthough this is a very easy way to perform the conversion, it looses its practicality when entering in large quantities of values. By storing the year as text the AutoSum function will ignore the column heading.

Excel convert string to number series#

If I were to list a series of numbers and I had the year “2018” as the title, when I invoke an AutoSum command to add all of the numbers together I don’t want the function to select the year “2018” thinking it is a value to be included in the summation. Scenario #2 – Preventing “accidental math” In the case of part numbers, employee numbers, postal codes and other such examples, those leading zeroes are important and should not be dropped. These insignificant zeroes are simply dropped. zeroes not acting as placeholders between two significant (non-zero) digits. If you enter these values into Excel, all of the leading zeroes will be droppedĮxcel does not display insignificant zeroes, i.e.

Excel convert string to number code#

Postal code – 06390 (Fishers Island, New York).Part # – 004822 (industrial grade widget).If you are entering part numbers, employee IDs, postal codes, etc… there is a high likelihood that the sequence of numbers may have leading zeroes.

Let’s look at two very common scenarios: Scenario #1 – Preserving leading zeroes Converting numbers in Excel to text is a common practice and has many benefits.