software

I am entring in order codes on a stock order sheet. The codes have 5 digits.
Some of them begin with 0 (zero). How do I force the cell to report the
correct number, ie 07817, and not 7817 as it is doing at the moment?

Thanks

Tony

Just enter the numbers preceeded by an apostrophe (single quote)
--
Gary''s Studentquot;m800afcquot; wrote:

gt; I am entring in order codes on a stock order sheet. The codes have 5 digits.
gt; Some of them begin with 0 (zero). How do I force the cell to report the
gt; correct number, ie 07817, and not 7817 as it is doing at the moment?
gt;
gt; Thanks
gt;
gt; Tony

quot;m800afcquot; gt; wrote in message
...
gt;I am entring in order codes on a stock order sheet. The codes have 5
gt;digits.
gt; Some of them begin with 0 (zero). How do I force the cell to report the
gt; correct number, ie 07817, and not 7817 as it is doing at the moment?

Format the cell as text before you enter the number.
--
David Biddulph

I had a similar issue with data containing leading zeroes. Excel would
promptly clip them off making the use of lookups, etc... useless. Here
is what I did:
(Assuming you need a fixed length of 5 char)

A B C
1 NUM DESC FORMULA RESULT
2 1 apple =REPT(quot;0quot;,5-LEN(a2))amp;A2 = 00001
3 22 orange =REPT(quot;0quot;,5-LEN(a3))amp;A3 = 00022
4 304 pear =REPT(quot;0quot;,5-LEN(a4))amp;A4 = 00304

What it does:
=REPT(quot;squot;,x) Repeats quot;squot; (or whatever string), x times)
=LEN(a2) Returns the char count of a2

The combined formula repeats quot;0quot; for (5 - length of a2), amp;a2
concatenates the value of a2 to the end. Replace 5 with whatever fixed
length you need.

Regards and good luck!

Jay--
jbrackett
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