Quote:
Originally Posted by 40plus
Try highlighting the relevant column in Excel and formatting it as plain text. Although Excel assumes it's a number when importing, it usually retains the whole string and just defaults to number format.
If that doesn't work, try editing one of the number fields adding ' at the front and see if it displays the leading zeros.
Regards
40+
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The original text is just that: text. It is not (properly) delimited. It is not columns (at that stage). If I go back to the stage where Excel
first encounters the text & (wants to) strip the leading zeros, then I'm losing an awful lot of "tidying" & formatting of that text. I used some regex prev. but a lot of the text is too "loose"/irregular for that to cover all the formatting/cleaning required.
I know, "plan to throw one away..."
Fred was Right, said Fred.
Perhaps I should upload the original (un-cleaned) text, so you can see it yourself... & perhaps have a go.