software

Greetings. I'm using EXCEL 2003, and I have a problem that I can't seem to
find the answer to. I have a column that has 15506 rows, and each row
contains a number, an underline, and a word. The rows look something like
this:

1_blah
2_blahblah
3_cat
4_dog
....
234_flower
235_flowing
....
15500_zebra
15501_zemo
etc.

I need to put four zeros in front of numbers 1-9, three from 10-99, etc., so
I can later sort on this column when I'm using the data in another program
(please don't ask why the data is like this; it just is!). Is there a way to
add these zeros automatically before the words but without having to do any
programing, something I am unable to do? I would deeply appreciate your help
in solving this problem.

=REPT(quot;0quot;,6-FIND(quot;_quot;,A1))amp;A1
Copy down as far as needed.

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten

quot;Rebeccaquot; gt; wrote in message
...
gt; Greetings. I'm using EXCEL 2003, and I have a problem that I can't seem
gt; to
gt; find the answer to. I have a column that has 15506 rows, and each row
gt; contains a number, an underline, and a word. The rows look something like
gt; this:
gt;
gt; 1_blah
gt; 2_blahblah
gt; 3_cat
gt; 4_dog
gt; ...
gt; 234_flower
gt; 235_flowing
gt; ...
gt; 15500_zebra
gt; 15501_zemo
gt; etc.
gt;
gt; I need to put four zeros in front of numbers 1-9, three from 10-99, etc.,
gt; so
gt; I can later sort on this column when I'm using the data in another program
gt; (please don't ask why the data is like this; it just is!). Is there a way
gt; to
gt; add these zeros automatically before the words but without having to do
gt; any
gt; programing, something I am unable to do? I would deeply appreciate your
gt; help
gt; in solving this problem.