Value Error

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimS
  • Start date Start date
J

JimS

I copied some data from a web page and pasted it into a spread sheet.
It looks like the following:

10/12/2008 BALTIMORE RAVENS 39 39
13:00 EST INDIANAPOLIS COLTS -6 -4.5

Simple enough. when I try to subtract (or add) -6 and -4.5 into a new
cell I get a value error. If I retype the -4.5 to -4.5 (I can't see
why there is any difference) it works. (I don't have to retype the
-6???, just the -4.5)

I don't want to manually change all of the numbers so I can do simple
subtraction and addition.

This is frustrating.
 
You may well have imported non-breaking space characters (code 160)
with that data. One easy way to get rid of them is to highlight the
two number columns, then CTRL-H:

Find what: alt-0160
Replace with: leave blank
Click Replace All

where alt-0160 means to hold down the Alt key and type 0160 on the
numeric keypad.

Hope this helps.

Pete
 
Hey that worked, thanks. The only tricky part (on my laptop) is that
when you type in alt-0160 nothing shows up in the insert area--it just
looks blank. I went ahead and did it anyway, and it worked.
 
I'm glad to hear that, Jim - you often get those characters if you
copy data from an HTML source.

The character is a space, so you won't be able to see it !!

However, if you look carefully when you do it you will see the cursor
move slightly in the Find What box.

Pete
 
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