Forcing a zero

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Persico
  • Start date Start date
J

John Persico

Is there anyway to make a field that has a zero at the front of it?

28377310874
028377310874

Meaning, I want the second of the above to show, not the first.
 
Hi John,

Format the cell with the number format you require. In this case:
000000000000
 
Hi John,

Format the cell with the number format you require. In this case:
000000000000

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]



John Persico said:
Is there anyway to make a field that has a zero at the front of it?

Meaning, I want the second of the above to show, not the first.- Hide quoted text -
Click to expand...

- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

right click, select format cells, select custom and enter 12 zeros in
Type:.
 
John said:
Is there anyway to make a field that has a zero at the front of it?

28377310874
028377310874

Meaning, I want the second of the above to show, not the first.
Click to expand...

Start with an apostrophe...

'028377310874
 
Hi Jordon,

Unfortunately, that converts the number to text, which makes sorting, using it in calculations, etc, rather more complex than it
needs to be.
 
macropod said:
Hi Jordon,

Unfortunately, that converts the number to text, which makes sorting,
using it in calculations, etc, rather more complex than it needs to be.
Click to expand...

When you top post and use a sig delimiter, a reply
to your post strips out everything below your
signature and makes it difficult to understand. If
you insist on top posting you shouldn't use the
delimiter. Someone reading your post tomorrow,
that had read my post today, won't have any idea
what you're talking about.

I can't imagine having to do calculations on a number
that isn't a number. What kind of numbers starts with
a zero besides account numbers, product codes and that
sort of thing? Sorting would be an issue though (if a
sort is even needed).
 
Hi Jordon,
When you top post and use a sig delimiter, a reply
to your post strips out everything below your
signature
Click to expand...

Not in my experience ...

The only thing that stripped out was what you stripped from your own post.
 
It does for any newsreader that honors that convention. Notice that your
sig and everything after it is missing from this.
 
I don't really care one way or the other so long as everyone
is doing the same thing. My only issue was his use if a sig
delimiter while top posting. News readers that know what to
do with a sig delimiter strip everything below it during a
reply so it removes all of the conversation except what was
last posted. During my reply to his post my news reader
stripped everything after his signature, leaving only his
post. In order for me to keep the relevant parts of the thread
it would have required me to copy and paste text from his
message into my reply, which I won't do.

It is a little odd that he's using a sig delimiter with a news
reader that doesn't know what to do with one.

Jordon
 
Hi Jordon,

The convention in these forums is top posting and the overwhelming majority of posters don't use newsreaders that strip everything
below the sig delimiter ...
 
macropod said:
The convention in these forums is top posting and the overwhelming
majority of posters don't use newsreaders that strip everything below
the sig delimiter ...
Click to expand...

Forums? This is a news group. What forums are you
talking about? I've been reading posts from the
Microsoft Usenet server, microsoft.public, for over
12 years. And like I said, I don't really
care one way or another about top vs. bottom
posting as long as everyone does the same thing.

Please enlighten me...

Why do you use a sig delimiter? It screws up other
peoples replies to your posts, but only when you
top post. It doesn't when you bottom post. Since
you say that the convention in these "forums" is
top posting why are you intentionally doing something
that destroys the flow of a thread?
 
OK it's a newsgroup.
Why do you use a sig delimiter?
Click to expand...
Because the newsreader that comes with Windows inserts it automatically when one uses a signature.
It screws up other peoples replies to your posts
Click to expand...
Not if they're using the newsreader that comes with Windows - which is what the overwhelming majority of posters here use. Only
those who use something that doesn't respect the conventions in these NGs have problems. Check it out - I am far from being the only
one in these NGs who uses sigs and top-posting.
 
macropod said:
OK it's a newsgroup.
Click to expand...
Because the newsreader that comes with Windows inserts it automatically
when one uses a signature.
Click to expand...
Not if they're using the newsreader that comes with Windows - which is
what the overwhelming majority of posters here use. Only those who use
something that doesn't respect the conventions in these NGs have
problems. Check it out - I am far from being the only one in these NGs
who uses sigs and top-posting.
Click to expand...

Well, would you look at that? You didn't top post and
I can see my previous remarks that you've replied to
after I hit reply. Do you see what I'm getting at?

I have no idea what the current Windows is using for a
news reader but it has to be something like Outlook
Express. What's it called? Windows Mail or something
like that? Are you saying that it inserts a sig
delimiter, by default, but it has no way to deal with
a sig delimiters intended purpose? This post seems to
suggest just that...

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-mail/...strip-signatures-usenet-when-doing-reply.html

Overwhelming majority? Just check the User Agent in the
headers of posts from a lot of the long time posters
here and you'll see that they are in fact using something
other than Windows Mail. Dave Peterson, Gord Dibben, Chip
Pearson, Pete_UK, Don Guillett, none of them are using
Windows Mail. They all use something that honors a sig
delimiter.
 
Both Outlook Express and Windows Mail apply sig delimiters and neither strips out anything below the delimiter. As for the 'intended
purpose', I guess that's just a matter of interpretation - MS apparently doesn't interpret it the way you do.

Have a nice day.
 
macropod said:
Both Outlook Express and Windows Mail apply sig delimiters and neither
strips out anything below the delimiter. As for the 'intended purpose',
I guess that's just a matter of interpretation - MS apparently doesn't
interpret it the way you do.
Click to expand...

Just what do you think a sig delimiter is for? To
look pretty? Is google broken for you?

You didn't read the link I provided, did you? Try
this one...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=purpous+signature+delimiter
 
You didn't read the link I provided, did you?

Sure I did. And it says *nothing* about deleting text other than the sig:
"It would be great if a common signature delimiter could become a standard as well. Then email clients could automatically delete
the signature from the quoted text"

If you're going to use a newsreader that lamely clips other stuff too, don't complain about those that don't.
 
macropod said:
Sure I did. And it says *nothing* about deleting text other than the sig:
"It would be great if a common signature delimiter could become a
standard as well. Then email clients could automatically delete the
signature from the quoted text"
Click to expand...

If you had read it you would have read the following...

~~~~~~~~~~~
It would be great if a common signature delimiter could become
a standard as well. Then email clients could automatically delete
the signature from the quoted text when you compose a reply, for
example.

Use the Standard Signature Delimiter

The "standard" that is widely used on Usenet, but also with email,
is

* "-- " (two dashes followed by a white-space character) on a line
by itself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

It does that by removing the delimiter and everything below it.
Since usenet netiquette has dictated, since it's inception, bottom
posting, traditionally signatures go at the bottom. Removing the
delimiter and everything below it never removes anything else in
the message.
If you're going to use a newsreader that lamely clips other stuff too,
don't complain about those that don't.
Click to expand...

How is a news reader suppose to know when the signature ends?
I dare you to find me a newsreader that will only remove a
signature in the middle of a post leaving what's above it and
what's below intact. There aren't any.

Geeze. Why are you making this so difficult? Open your eyes, read
a little about usenet history and you'll understand.

I can tell, you're one of those people that can never admit you're
wrong. I'm done beating a dead horse. Believe what you want to
believe.
 
Back
Top