Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Reversing Cell Contents.

Reversing Cell Contents

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 27, 2024)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

1

Did you ever want to reverse the contents of what is contained in a cell? Using the StrReverse function in VBA, you can easily change "My text" to "txet yM."

Dim sTemp As String

sTemp = "My text"
sTemp = StrReverse(sTemp)

When completed, the text in the sTemp variable will be equal to "txet yM." If you want to reverse the contents of a cell in a worksheet, you could use the following:

Selection = StrReverse(Selection)

This reverses whatever cell is selected in the worksheet. I find it helpful, though, to build out the usage just a bit to make sure that only a single cell is selected and that the cell does not contain a formula:

If Selection.Count =1 Then
    If Not Selection.HasFormula Then Selection = StrReverse(Selection)
End If

This macro only affects a single selected cell, and it will not make any changes to a cell that contains a formula.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3451) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Reversing Cell Contents.

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Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is 1 + 3?

2024-01-28 14:10:59

J. Woolley

My Excel Toolbox includes the following function to reverse the value(s) of a constant or a cell or a range of cells and return the result(s) as text:
=Reverse(Value)
For example, Abc becomes cbA and 123 becomes 321 and -1.23 becomes 32.1- and TRUE becomes eurT. Value might also be the result of a function like PI(). If Value is an error like NA() it is not reversed.
If Value is an array or a range of cells, an array is returned. For example:
=Reverse({"Hello","There"})
returns a row vector with olleH and erehT in adjacent columns.
If Value is a non-contiguous range of cells, only its first contiguous Area applies. For example:
=Reverse((A1:C5,E1:E9))
returns an array with 5 rows and 3 columns.
When using pre-2021 versions of Excel without support for dynamic arrays, review the PDF file UseSpillArray.pdf.
See https://sites.google.com/view/MyExcelToolbox

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