Hi
I have a csv file with fields that look like this

,"20-10",

this is being interpreted as a date when i open it in Excel.
what do i need to do with this filed in order to make Excel consider it
a text?
I tried replacing the double quotes with a single quote like this:

,'20-10',

but that makes the single quote appear in the cell in Excel, which is
not what i want.


please help.
thanks

hilz wrote:
> I have a csv file with fields that look like this
> ,"20-10",
> this is being interpreted as a date when i open it in Excel.

Hmm, that's strange, Excel kept it as text when I opened a test file. I
have 2003, what version are you using?

I get a date in Excel 2001 with 20/10 or with 20-10

I think Excel 2003 has some options on not treating everything
as a date. Transition options could also come into play.
---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

"Bucky" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> hilz wrote:
> > I have a csv file with fields that look like this
> > ,"20-10",
> > this is being interpreted as a date when i open it in Excel.
>
> Hmm, that's strange, Excel kept it as text when I opened a test file. I
> have 2003, what version are you using?
>

Bucky wrote:
> hilz wrote:
> > I have a csv file with fields that look like this
> > ,"20-10",
> > this is being interpreted as a date when i open it in Excel.
>
> Hmm, that's strange, Excel kept it as text when I opened a test file. I
> have 2003, what version are you using?


I have 2004 as well.
Maybe your locale is not US, and thus, 20-10 is not really a date!
try with:
"1-1","2-2","3-3"

if i save this line in a csv file and open it, i see

1-Jan 2-Feb 3-Mar


Any suggestions?

I meant 2003 not 2004!

If you rename the .csv to .txt, you'll see the data import wizard open when you
do File|Open.

You can specify that the input file is delimited by commas. Then specify text
for this field.

(In my simple test, when I specified comma delimited, excel "ate" up those
double quotes. If that doesn't happen for you, you could tell excel that it's
delimited by both comma and other (use a double quote) and then still specify
Text for that field.)

If you need to do this lots, you could record a macro that does this same
thing. But you'll still need to change from .csv to .txt.

hilz wrote:
>
> Hi
> I have a csv file with fields that look like this
>
> ,"20-10",
>
> this is being interpreted as a date when i open it in Excel.
> what do i need to do with this filed in order to make Excel consider it
> a text?
> I tried replacing the double quotes with a single quote like this:
>
> ,'20-10',
>
> but that makes the single quote appear in the cell in Excel, which is
> not what i want.
>
> please help.
> thanks

--

Dave Peterson

ps. For me, xl2003 with USA settings, excel didn't see 20-10 as a date.

hilz wrote:
>
> Hi
> I have a csv file with fields that look like this
>
> ,"20-10",
>
> this is being interpreted as a date when i open it in Excel.
> what do i need to do with this filed in order to make Excel consider it
> a text?
> I tried replacing the double quotes with a single quote like this:
>
> ,'20-10',
>
> but that makes the single quote appear in the cell in Excel, which is
> not what i want.
>
> please help.
> thanks

--

Dave Peterson

hilz wrote:
> I have a csv file with fields that look like this
> ,"20-10",
> this is being interpreted as a date when i open it in Excel.

,="20-10",

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> Maybe your locale is not US, and thus, 20-10 is not really a date!

You're right, I'm in the US, so 20-10 is not a date. If I try 10-20,
then it did convert to a date. See my other post for the solution.

U Da Man Bucky.... you got it!
thank you so very much....