Brain Clog! Help with formula, please

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I have a column of UPC numbers, most of which are 10 characters, which is
all we need for our purposes. But, some contain an 11th check digit at the
beginning, which we do NOT want, since it interferes somewhat with reading
accuracy.

Examples:
Some look like: 3600012345
Others look like: 73600012345

I want to remove the 7, and also split the remaining 10 digits with a dash,
so we get this:
36000-12345

No calculation is ever done with these characters - they're used only as
text. I know how to use the RIGHT() & LEFT() functions, so I can strip off
the chars I want, but I do NOT know how to have Excel check to see if there
are 11 digits and automatically get rid of the first one. I can do it in
Access or Paradox, but I'd rather not add an extra chore, since I'll be
receiving these files once a week. I suppose I could sort the whole list,
which would put all the 11-char string in one place, and then use two
different string formulae to handle the different groups, but that's not
very elegant.

Help!

 

[PC]

Someone will probably have an easier solution than this but I'd head for
something like the following (assuming A3 is your raw data):

=IF(LEN(A3)=10, LEFT(A3,5) & "-" & RIGHT(A3,5), MID(A3, 1,5) & "-" &
RIGHT(A3,5))

It's another column but my personal preference is to leave the orginal
data out there so I can check myself later if need be.

 

[Jack Sheet]

More than one solution but how about

=MID(D5,LEN(D5)-9,5)&"-"&RIGHT(D5,5)

where D5 contains the 10 or 11 digit number

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Someone will probably have an easier solution than this but I'd head for
something like the following (assuming A3 is your raw data):

=IF(LEN(A3)=10, LEFT(A3,5) & "-" & RIGHT(A3,5), MID(A3, 1,5) & "-" &
RIGHT(A3,5))

It's another column but my personal preference is to leave the orginal
data out there so I can check myself later if need be.

I don't mind the extra column. The sheet's also got a bunch of extraneous
data we don't need, so once I have a working formula, I'll copy & paste the
relevant stuff to a neater looking sheet.

 

[Dana DeLouis]

One option would be to use:
=MOD(A1,1e10)

and custom format as "00000-00000"

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Whoah....there's a function I've never played with. Stay tuned - I'll be
back after making dinner, mowing the lawn, and who-knows-what-else. Thanks
to everyone so far.

 

[Ron Rosenfeld]

I have a column of UPC numbers, most of which are 10 characters, which is
all we need for our purposes. But, some contain an 11th check digit at the
beginning, which we do NOT want, since it interferes somewhat with reading
accuracy.

Examples:
Some look like: 3600012345
Others look like: 73600012345

I want to remove the 7, and also split the remaining 10 digits with a dash,
so we get this:
36000-12345

No calculation is ever done with these characters - they're used only as
text. I know how to use the RIGHT() & LEFT() functions, so I can strip off
the chars I want, but I do NOT know how to have Excel check to see if there
are 11 digits and automatically get rid of the first one. I can do it in
Access or Paradox, but I'd rather not add an extra chore, since I'll be
receiving these files once a week. I suppose I could sort the whole list,
which would put all the 11-char string in one place, and then use two
different string formulae to handle the different groups, but that's not
very elegant.

Help!

=TEXT(RIGHT(A1,10),"00000-00000")


--ron

 

[JoeSpareBedroom]

For effectiveness and brevity, we have two winners:

Dana, for =MOD(A1,1e10), although I haven't a clue why the thing works.

And, Ron Rosenfeld for =TEXT(RIGHT(A1,10),"00000-00000")

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions.