How to fix/convert trailing negative signs to real numbers in Excel?
For some reasons, you may need to fix trailing negative signs in cells in Excel. For example, a number with trailing negative signs would be like 90-. In this condition, how can you quickly fix the trailing negative signs by removing the trailing negative sign from right to left? Here are some quick tricks can help you.
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For example, I have a range (A1:A11) which contains numbers with trailing negative signs. I can use the following formulas to fix them by removing the negative signs from left to right.
Select a blank cell adjacent to the cell that you want to change. I will click B1 and input one of the above formulas to the cell. Then tap the Enter key, and the trailing negative sign will be removed from right to left. And then drag the fill handle over the range of cells that you want to fix traling negative signs. See screenshot:
Also we can use Text to Columns to fix trailing negative signs with the following steps:
1. Select the range you want to fix the trailing negative signs.
2. Go to the ribbon, click Data > Text to Columns, and a Convert Text to Columns Wizard dialog box will appear. See screenshot:
3. Click the Next button in step 1 and step 2.
4. In Step 3, click the Advanced… button and an Advanced Text Import Settings dialog box will pop out; please check Trailing minus for negative numbers option and click OK. See screenshot:
5. Click Finish. And all of the trailing negative signs will be fixed.
We can also use a VBA code to fix trailing negative signs in cells, please do as follows:
1. Highlight the range you would like to fix trailing negative signs, then Click Developer > Visual Basic, a new Microsoft Visual Basic for applications window will be displayed, click Insert > Module and then input the following VBA code:
VBA: fix all trailing negative signs in a selected range.
Sub FixNegative() 'Updateby20131113 Dim rng As Range Dim WorkRng As Range On Error Resume Next xTitleId = "KutoolsforExcel" Set WorkRng = Application.Selection Set WorkRng = Application.InputBox("Range", xTitleId, WorkRng.Address, Type:=8) Set WorkRng = WorkRng.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeConstants, xlTextValues) For Each rng In WorkRng xValue = rng.Value If VBA.Right(xValue, 1) = "-" Then rng.Value = "-" & VBA.Left(xValue, VBA.Len(xValue) - 1) End If Next End Sub
2. Click button to run the code, and then a dialog is displayed for you to select a range you want to fix the trailing negative, see screenshot:
3. Click Ok, then all the trailing negative valuse are fixed to normal negative values.
We can quickly fix trailing negative signs with Kutools for Excel’s Change Sign of Values.
If you have installed Kutools for Excel, you can fix trailing negative signs as follows.
Step 1. Select the range you want to change positive numbers to negative numbers, and click Kutools > Content Converter > Change Sign of Values. See screenshot:
Step 2. Check Fix trailing negative signs in the popup dialog, and click Ok or Apply. See screenshot:
Kutools for Excel’s Change Sign of Values can also change all positive values to negative values, change all negative values to positive and so on. For more detailed information about Change Sign of Values, please visit Change Sign of Values feature description.
- Change negative numbers to positive
- Change positive numbers to negative
- Reverse signs of values in cells
- Change negative number to zero
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To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.· 6 months agoThank you so much. Very useful.
To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.· 1 years agoIf the methods outlined on this webpage do not work for you, note that there are different "negative sign" characters, such as "‐" or "-" or "–" or "—"
I had been generating reports from a particular source which does not use the standard "-", and this problem had plagued me for days before I mustered the determination to find out the cause. I'm sure you can imagine the feeling of satisfaction upon discovering the imposter "negative sign".
To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.· 2 years agohi,
can any one guide me.. if i want to put values 1-9 for only one symbol (*) IN DIFFERENT CELLS. SAME SYMBOL WITH DIFFERENT VALUES.
To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.· 3 years agoHi Shirley,
Here is the article. MD