Need to change numbers with dashes to numbers with no dashes

[cheryltraining]

The spreadsheet we're working has social security numbers and phone numbers
with dashes included. Need to remove dashes and not lose the leading zero in
the SSN.

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

Edit>replace, find - replace with leave blank, then use a custom format of

000000000

for SSN

and

0000000000

for phone numbers


Of course if the original are using SSN formatting then you only need to
change that.

Finally, if you need a physical leading zero use a help column after the
dashes have been replaced and use

=TEXT(A1,"000000000")

copy down and then copy and paste special as values in place

--


Regards,


Peo Sjoblom

 

[cm]

for the SSNs -- use this example for SSN in cell A1:

=LEFT(A1,3)&MID(A1,5,2)&RIGHT(A1,4)

Phone numbers would depend on the exact format.

 

[David Biddulph]

Are your "numbers" text strings, or are they numbers formatted in special
ways?
If stored as text, all you need to do is =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"-","") to get rid
of the hyphens, and you'll still be left with a text string so won't lose
the leading zeroes.
If you've got SSN stored as a number and formatted to show the hyphens, then
=TEXT(A1,"000000000") would give you leading zeroes padded out to 9 digits.