VBA Replace() doesn't replace characters - vba

This is odd. In the code below the replace() does not replace the : character. Why? How do I fix this? Even if I switch ":" with chr(58) it doesn't work.
Dim dispName as String
dispName = " 110531 Re:Our file 027-10.doc"
dispName = Replace(dispName, ":", " ")
msgbox dispName

I copied your code as it is to notepad++ and found that used both ':' characters are different.
Change both to the same and run the code

Related

Character replacement for Control Sequence Introducer Character in VB? Chr(155)

I have tried all day to replace this character I have in a string which has characters in it... and after googling, I found is called a "Control Sequence Introducer".
It looks like the hex code is 9B and the ASCII code is 155. (I think, from what I've read).
The string comes from a file which I read in, I have some null characters to replace, which is working fine, but just after that I've been working to remove this wierd character.
In notepad++ when I do show all symbols, it looks like this:
I tried the following:
strLine = strLine.Replace(Chr(155), " ")
strLine = Replace(strLine , "9B", " ")
strLine = Replace(strLine , "&#x9B", " ")
strLine = Replace(strLine , Chr(155), " ")
strLine= Regex.Replace(strLine, "\c#", " ")
strLine= Regex.Replace(strLine, "\c_", " ")
strLine= Regex.Replace(strLine, "\c", " ")
strLine= Regex.Replace(strLine, "\cA", " ")
strLine= Regex.Replace(strLine, "\cZ", " ")
I found a good section in wikipedia
Control Sequence Introducer Character ANSI Control Sequences
With everything going on in that, perhaps I have the wrong hex code?
Does anybody know how to replace this character? I have googled this for awhile now and it's elusive to me how to solve this.
I did find it finally, using regex and the hex code!
strLine = Regex.Replace(strLine, "\x9B", " ")

Inputbox is not accepting double number VBA excel

I have a declaration like number= InputBox("Number for:", "Number:"), number is declared as Dim number As Double but when I enter a double number, for example 5.4, into the Inputbox and transmit it into a cell, the cell shows me 54, it deletes the point.
How can I fix this?
THX
If you want to detect which settings your Excel uses for the Decimal seperator, try the code below:
MsgBox "Excel uses " & Chr(34) & Application.DecimalSeparator & Chr(34) & " as a decimal seperator"
if you want to change it to ., then use the line below:
Application.DecimalSeparator = "."
Unfortunately, VBA is horrible at handling differences in decimal seprators. In your case, you should probably use a comma (,), instead of a punctuation/dot (.).
Edit: Using the Application.DecimalSeparator method, it now works regardless of regional settings. Be aware though, it seems to cause some issues if you change the comma separator settings for Excel (it seems that VBA somewhat ignores this setting). If you do not change that however, the example should work in all other cas
Sub GetNumberFromInputBox()
Dim val As String
Dim num As Double
'Get input
val = InputBox("Number for:", "Number:")
Debug.Print Application.DecimalSeparator
If IsNumeric(val) Then
'Try to convert to double as usual
num = CDbl(val)
'If the dot is removed automatically, then
'you will se a difference in the length. In
'those cases, replace the dot with a comma,
'before converting to double
If Len(val) <> Len(num) Then
If Application.DecimalSeparator = "," Then
num = CDbl(Replace(val, ".", ","))
Else
num = CDbl(Replace(val, ",", "."))
End If
End If
'Pring the number
Debug.Print "You selected number: " & num
Else
'If its not a number at all, throw an error
Debug.Print "You typed " & val & ", which is not a number"
End If
End Sub

Removing All Spaces in String

I created a macro for removing all whitespace in a string, specifically an email address. However it only removes about 95% of the whitespace, and leaves a few.
My code:
Sub NoSpaces()
Dim w As Range
For Each w In Selection.Cells
w = Replace(w, " ", "")
Next
End Sub
Things I have tried to solve the issue include:
~ Confirmed the spaces are indeed spaces with the Code function, it is character 32 (space)
~ Used a substitute macro in conjuction with the replace macro
~ Have additional macro utilizing Trim function to remove leading and trailing whitespace
~ Made a separate macro to test for non-breaking spaces (character 160)
~ Used the Find and Replace feature to search and replace spaces with nothing. Confirmed working.
I only have one cell selected when I run the macro. It selects and goes through all the cells because of the Selection.Cells part of the code.
A few examples:
1 STAR MOVING # ATT.NET
322 TRUCKING#GMAIL.COM
ALEZZZZ#AOL. COM.
These just contain regular whitespace, but are skipped over.
Just use a regular expression:
'Add a reference to Microsoft VBScript Regular Expressions 5.5
Public Function RemoveWhiteSpace(target As String) As String
With New RegExp
.Pattern = "\s"
.MultiLine = True
.Global = True
RemoveWhiteSpace = .Replace(target, vbNullString)
End With
End Function
Call it like this:
Sub NoSpaces()
Dim w As Range
For Each w In Selection.Cells
w.Value = RemoveWhiteSpace(w.Value)
Next
End Sub
Try this:
Sub NoSpaces()
Selection.Replace " ", ""
End Sub
Use "Substitute"
Example...
=SUBSTITUTE(C1:C18," ","")
Because you assume that Selection.Cells includes all cells on the sheet.
Cells.Replace " ", ""
And to add to the excellent advice from all the great contributors, try the
TRIM or LTRIM, or RTRIM and you can read more about these functions here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/gg278916.aspx
Now this does not remove embedded spaces (spaces in between the letters) but it will remove any leading and trailing spaces.
Hope this helps.
Space Problem with Excel
ok, the only way i see this two types of space is by converting their Ascii code value of which I do it here
now to explain this function i made, it will just filter the string character by character checking if its equal to the two types of space i mentioned. if not it will concatenate that character into the string which will be the final value after the loop. hope this helps. Thanks.
Function spaceremove(strs) As String
Dim str As String
Dim nstr As String
Dim sstr As String
Dim x As Integer
str = strs
For x = 1 To VBA.Len(str)
sstr = Left(Mid(str, x), 1)
If sstr = " " Or sstr = " " Then
Else
nstr = nstr & "" & sstr
End If
Next x
spaceremove = nstr
End Function
I copied a HTML table with data and pasted in excel but the cells were filled with unwanted space and all methods posted here didn't work so I debugged and I discovered that it wasn't actually space chars (ASCII 32) it was Non-breaking space) (ASCII 160) or HTML
So to make it work with that Non-breaking space char I did this:
Sub NoSpaces()
Dim w As Range
For Each w In Selection.Cells
w.Value = Replace(w.Value, " ", vbNullString)
w.Value = Replace(w.Value, Chr(160), vbNullString)
Next
End Sub

Changing decimal separator in VBA

I've written simple code in VBA (and seen questions here and here and none of these solutions work).
Dim toString As String
toString = cell.Value & "_"
If (InStr(toString, ",")) Then
toString = Replace(toString, ",", ".")
toString = Trim(toString)
cell.Value = " " + Left(toString, (Len(toString) - 1))
End If
Unfortunately, instead of string with dot separator, excel gives me double with comma in cell.Value. What curious is, when I exchange this whitespace with "_", it converts f. ex. 12,3 into _12.3. How can I fix it?
P.S. I add "_" at the end to ensure that toString will remain String.
I've had this issue before. You need to change the formatting of the cell before you write to it.
Application.Workbooks("Book1").Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:A100").NumberFormat = "#"
After that line runs you can simply write to the column like this:
Cells(1,1).Value = "12.3"
Excel will keep the string formatting and not convert it to a double.
Hope this helps.

Cleaning text strings in vb

I am trying to clean up a string from a text field that will be part of sql query.
I have created a function:
Private Function cleanStringToProperCase(dirtyString As String) As String
Dim cleanedString As String = dirtyString
'removes all but non alphanumeric characters except #, - and .'
cleanedString = Regex.Replace(cleanedString, "[^\w\.#-]", "")
'trims unecessary spaces off left and right'
cleanedString = Trim(cleanedString)
'replaces double spaces with single spaces'
cleanedString = Regex.Replace(cleanedString, " ", " ")
'converts text to upper case for first letter in each word'
cleanedString = StrConv(cleanedString, VbStrConv.ProperCase)
'return the nicely cleaned string'
Return cleanedString
End Function
But when I try to clean any text with two words, it strips ALL white space out. "daz's bike" becomes "Dazsbike". I am assuming I need to modify the following line:
cleanedString = Regex.Replace(cleanedString, "[^\w\.#-]", "")
so that it also lets single white space characters remain. Advice on how to do so is greatly received as I cannot find it on any online tutorials or on the MSDN site (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/844skk0h(v=vs.110).aspx)
Use "[^\w\.,#\-\' ]" instead of your pattern string.
Also, I would use
Regex.Replace(cleanedString, " +", " ")
instead of
Regex.Replace(cleanedString, " ", " ")
Or, if you are not a big fan of regex...
Private Function cleanStringToProperCase(dirtyString As String) As String
'specify valid characters
Dim validChars As String = " #-.0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
'removes all but validChars'
Dim cleanedString As String = dirtyString.Where(Function(c) validChars.Contains(c)).ToArray
Dim myTI As Globalization.TextInfo = New Globalization.CultureInfo(Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.Name).TextInfo
'return the nicely cleaned string'
Return myTI.ToTitleCase(cleanedString.Trim)
End Function