Deleting duplicate text in a cell in excel - vba

Question

I was wondering how to remove duplicate names/text's in a cell. For example
Jean Donea Jean Doneasee
R.L. Foye R.L. Foyesee
J.E. Zimmer J.E. Zimmersee
R.P. Reed R.P. Reedsee D.E. Munson D.E. Munsonsee
While googling, I stumbled upon a macro/code, it's like:
Function RemoveDupes1(pWorkRng As Range) As String
'Updateby20140924
Dim xValue As String
Dim xChar As String
Dim xOutValue As String
Set xDic = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
xValue = pWorkRng.Value
For i = 1 To VBA.Len(xValue)
xChar = VBA.Mid(xValue, i, 1)
If xDic.exists(xChar) Then
Else
xDic(xChar) = ""
xOutValue = xOutValue & xChar
End If
Next
RemoveDupes1 = xOutValue
End Function
The macro is working, but it is comparing every letter, and if it finds any repeated letters, it's removing that.
When I use the code over those names, the result is somewhat like this:
Jean Dos
R.L Foyes
J.E Zimers
R.P edsDEMuno
By looking at the result I can make out it is not what I want, yet I got no clue how to correct the code.
The desired output should look like:
Jean Donea
R.L. Foye
J.E. Zimmer
R.P. Reed
Any suggestions?
Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

Input
With the input on the image:
Result
The Debug.Print output
Regex
A regex can be used dynamically iterating on the cell, to work as a Find tool. So it will extract only the shortest match. \w*( OUTPUT_OF_EXTRACTELEMENT )\w*, e.g.: \w*(Jean)\w*
The Regex's reference must be enabled.
Code
Function EXTRACTELEMENT(Txt As String, n, Separator As String) As String
On Error GoTo ErrHandler:
EXTRACTELEMENT = Split(Application.Trim(Mid(Txt, 1)), Separator)(n - 1)
Exit Function
ErrHandler:
' error handling code
EXTRACTELEMENT = 0
On Error GoTo 0
End Function
Sub test()
Dim str As String
Dim objMatches As Object
Set objRegExp = CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp") 'New regexp
lastrow = ActiveSheet.Cells(ActiveSheet.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp).Row
For Row = 1 To lastrow
str = Range("A" & Row)
F_str = ""
N_Elements = UBound(Split(str, " "))
If N_Elements > 0 Then
For k = 1 To N_Elements + 1
strPattern = "\w*(" & EXTRACTELEMENT(CStr(str), k, " ") & ")\w*"
With objRegExp
.Pattern = strPattern
.Global = True
End With
If objRegExp.test(strPattern) Then
Set objMatches = objRegExp.Execute(str)
If objMatches.Count > 1 Then
If objRegExp.test(F_str) = False Then
F_str = F_str & " " & objMatches(0).Submatches(0)
End If
ElseIf k <= 2 And objMatches.Count = 1 Then
F_str = F_str & " " & objMatches(0).Submatches(0)
End If
End If
Next k
Else
F_str = str
End If
Debug.Print Trim(F_str)
Next Row
End Sub
Note that you can Replace the Debug.Print to write on the target
cell, if it is column B to Cells(Row,2)=Trim(F_str)
Explanation
Function
You can use this UDF, that uses the Split Function to obtain the element separated by spaces (" "). So it can get every element to compare on the cell.
Loops
It will loop from 1 to the number of elements k in each cell and from row 1 to lastrow.
Regex
The Regex is used to find the matches on the cell and Join a new string with the shortest element of each match.

Answer 2

This solution operates on the assumption that 'see' (or some other three-letter string) will always be on the end of the cell value. If that isn't the case then this won't work.
Function RemoveDupeInCell(dString As String) As String
Dim x As Long, ct As Long
Dim str As String
'define str as half the length of the cell, minus the right three characters
str = Trim(Left(dString, WorksheetFunction.RoundUp((Len(dString) - 3) / 2, 0)))
'loop through the entire cell and count the number of instances of str
For x = 1 To Len(dString)
If Mid(dString, x, Len(str)) = str Then ct = ct + 1
Next x
'if it's more than one, set to str, otherwise error
If ct > 1 Then
RemoveDupeInCell = str
Else
RemoveDupeInCell = "#N/A"
End If
End Function