VBA: How to transform a one column full dictionary into one column per letter? - vba

Question

I have a full dictionary. All the words (360 000) are in one column.
I'd like to have Column B with all words starting with "a", column C with all words starting with b...
I am trying to do a loop or something... but... It is just too long.
Any tips? Or did someone already do this vba macro?
Tks,
Stéphane.

Answer 1

If we start with:
Running this short macro:
Sub SeparateData()
Dim N As Long, i As Long, NewCol As Long
Dim M As Long
N = Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
For i = 1 To N
NewCol = Asc(UCase(Left(Cells(i, 1).Value, 1))) - 63
If Cells(1, NewCol).Value = "" Then
M = 1
Else
M = Cells(Rows.Count, NewCol).End(xlUp).Row + 1
End If
Cells(M, NewCol).Value = Cells(i, 1).Value
Next i
End Sub
will produce:
NOTE:
You may want to add some error capture logic to the NewCol calculation line.
EDIT#1:
This version may be slightly faster:
Sub SeparateDataFaster()
Dim N As Long, i As Long, NewCol As Long
Dim M As Long, time1 As Date, time2 As Date
N = Cells(Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
time1 = Now
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
For i = 1 To N
NewCol = Asc(UCase(Left(Cells(i, 1).Value, 1))) - 63
If Cells(1, NewCol).Value = "" Then
M = 1
Else
M = Cells(Rows.Count, NewCol).End(xlUp).Row + 1
End If
Cells(M, NewCol).Value = Cells(i, 1).Value
Next i
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
time2 = Now
MsgBox time1 & vbCrLf & time2
End Sub

Answer 2

You can try something like this.
For 360k records its take about 20sec.
To create tests data i use this sub:
Sub FillTestData()
Dim t As Long
Dim lng As Integer
Dim text As String
'Start = Timer
For t = 1 To 360000
text = vbNullString
lng = 5 * Rnd + 10
For i = 1 To lng
Randomize
text = text & Chr(Int((26 * Rnd) + 65))
Next i
Cells(t, 1) = text
Next t
'Debug.Print Timer - Start
End Sub
And for separate:
Sub sep()
'Start = Timer
Dim ArrWords() As Variant
Dim Row_ As Long
LastRow = Cells.Find("*", searchorder:=xlByRows, searchdirection:=xlPrevious).Row
ArrWords = Range("A1:A" & LastRow) 'all data from column A to array
For i = 65 To 90 ' from A to Z
Row_ = 1
For j = LBound(ArrWords, 1) To UBound(ArrWords, 1)
If Asc(UCase(ArrWords(j, 1))) = i Then
Cells(Row_, i - 63) = ArrWords(j, 1)
Row_ = Row_ + 1
End If
Next j
Next i
'other than a[A]-z[Z]
Row_ = 1
For j = LBound(ArrWords, 1) To UBound(ArrWords, 1)
If Asc(UCase(ArrWords(j, 1))) < 65 Or Asc(UCase(ArrWords(j, 1))) > 90 Then
Cells(Row_, 28) = ArrWords(j, 1)
Row_ = Row_ + 1
End If
Next j
'Debug.Print Timer - Start
End Sub

Answer 3

You could try:
For i = 1 To Cells(Rows.count, 1).End(xlUp).Row
Range(UCase(Left$(Cells(i, 1).Text, 1)) & Rows.count).Offset(0, 1).End(xlUp).Offset(IIf(Range(UCase(Left$(Cells(i, _
1).Text, 1)) & Rows.count).Offset(0, 1).End(xlUp).Row = 1, 0, 1), 0).Value = Cells(i, 1).Text
Next i
Which is just building the destination address using the first letter of the word by doing the following:
Loop through each cell in column A
Get the first letter of that cell and convert it to upper case
Find the last cell in the column starting with that letter
Move over 1 column to the right
Go up until we hit the last row of data
If the last row isn't row 1, move down another row (next blank cell)
Give this cell the same value as the cell in column A that we're assessing

Answer 4

You can enter the following formula:
For letter A in B Column:
=IF(UPPER(LEFT(A1,1))="A",A1,"")
For letter B in C Column:
=IF(UPPER(LEFT(A1,1))="B",A1,"")
Repeat the same for letter C, D and so on..