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)

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.

Author Bio

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 eight more than 6?

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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