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Range.TextToColumns Method (Excel)

Parses a column of cells that contain text into several columns.

Syntax

expression .TextToColumns(Destination, DataType, TextQualifier, ConsecutiveDelimiter, Tab, Semicolon, Comma, Space, Other, OtherChar, FieldInfo, DecimalSeparator, ThousandsSeparator, TrailingMinusNumbers)

expression A variable that represents a Range object.

Parameters

Name

Required/Optional

Data Type

Description

Destination

Optional

Variant

A Range object that specifies where Microsoft Excel will place the results. If the range is larger than a single cell, the top left cell is used.

DataType

Optional

XlTextParsingType

The format of the text to be split into columns.

TextQualifier

Optional

XlTextQualifier

Specifies whether to use single, double or no quotes as the text qualifier.

ConsecutiveDelimiter

Optional

Variant

True to have Microsoft Excel consider consecutive delimiters as one delimiter. The default value is False.

Tab

Optional

Variant

True to have DataType be xlDelimited and to have the tab character be a delimiter. The default value is False.

Semicolon

Optional

Variant

True to have DataType be xlDelimited and to have the semicolon be a delimiter. The default value is False.

Comma

Optional

Variant

True to have DataType be xlDelimited and to have the comma be a delimiter. The default value is False.

Space

Optional

Variant

True to have DataType be xlDelimited and to have the space character be a delimiter. The default value is False.

Other

Optional

Variant

True to have DataType be xlDelimited and to have the character specified by the OtherChar argument be a delimiter. The default value is False.

OtherChar

Optional

Variant

(required if Other is True). The delimiter character when Other is True. If more than one character is specified, only the first character of the string is used; the remaining characters are ignored.

FieldInfo

Optional

Variant

An array containing parse information for the individual columns of data. The interpretation depends on the value of DataType. When the data is delimited, this argument is an array of two-element arrays, with each two-element array specifying the conversion options for a particular column. The first element is the column number (1-based), and the second element is one of the xlColumnDataType constants specifying how the column is parsed.

DecimalSeparator

Optional

Variant

The decimal separator that Microsoft Excel uses when recognizing numbers. The default setting is the system setting.

ThousandsSeparator

Optional

Variant

The thousands separator that Excel uses when recognizing numbers. The default setting is the system setting.

TrailingMinusNumbers

Optional

Variant

Numbers that begin with a minus character.

Return Value

Variant

Remarks

The following table shows the results of importing text into Excel for various import settings. Numeric results are displayed in the rightmost column.

System decimal separator

System thousands separator

Decimal separator value

Thousands separator value

Original text

Cell value (data type)

Period

Comma

Comma

Period

123.123,45

123,123.45 (numeric)

Period

Comma

Comma

Comma

123.123,45

123.123,45 (text)

Comma

Period

Comma

Period

123,123.45

123,123.45 (numeric)

Period

Comma

Period

Comma

123 123.45

123 123.45 (text)

Period

Comma

Period

Space

123 123.45

123,123.45 (numeric)

XlColumnDataType can be one of these XlColumnDataType constants.

xlGeneralFormat. General

xlTextFormat. Text

xlMDYFormat. MDY Date

xlDMYFormat. DMY Date

xlYMDFormat. YMD Date

xlMYDFormat. MYD Date

xlDYMFormat. DYM Date

xlYDMFormat. YDM Date

xlEMDFormat. EMD Date

xlSkipColumn. Skip Column

You can use xlEMDFormat only if Taiwanese language support is installed and selected. The xlEMDFormat constant specifies that Taiwanese era dates are being used.

The column specifiers can be in any order. If a given column specifier is not present for a particular column in the input data, the column is parsed with the xlGeneralFormat setting. This example causes the third column to be skipped, the first column to be parsed as text, and the remaining columns in the source data to be parsed with the xlGeneralFormat setting.

Array(Array(3, 9), Array(1, 2))

If the source data has fixed-width columns, the first element of each two-element array specifies the starting character position in the column (as an integer; 0 (zero) is the first character). The second element of the two-element array specifies the parse option for the column as a number from 1 through 9, as listed above.

The following example parses two columns from a fixed-width file, with the first column starting at the beginning of the line and extending for 10 characters. The second column starts at position 15 and goes to the end of the line. To avoid including the characters between position 10 and position 15, Microsoft Excel adds a skipped column entry.

Array(Array(0, 1), Array(10, 9), Array(15, 1))

Example

This example converts the contents of the Clipboard, which contains a space-delimited text table, into separate columns on Sheet1. You can create a simple space-delimited table in Notepad or WordPad (or another text editor), copy the text table to the Clipboard, switch to Microsoft Excel, and then run this example.

Worksheets("Sheet1").Activate 
ActiveSheet.Paste 
Selection.TextToColumns DataType:=xlDelimited, _ 
 ConsecutiveDelimiter:=True, Space:=True

See Also

Concepts

Range Object Members

Range Object