Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. 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: Getting Input from a Text File.

Getting Input from a Text File

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 15, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

3

True to its BASIC roots, VBA allows you to do file input on sequential files. This means you can open and read a sequential text file, loading the information from the file into string variables. The steps are simple. You only have to open the file, get the input, and then close the file. The following code is a common example of reading from a sequential file:

Dim Raw As String
Dim NumValues As Integer, J As Integer
Dim UserVals() As String

Open "MyFile.Dat" For Input As #1
Line Input #1, Raw
NumValues = Val(Raw)
ReDim UserVals(NumValues)

For J = 1 to NumValues
    Line Input #1, UserVals(J)
Next J
Close #1

In this example you should note that the first line read from the text file (MyFile.Dat) is assumed to contain a value that indicates how many items are to be read in from the file.

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 (11115) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Getting Input from a Text File.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Changing the Way Endnotes Are Numbered

Word is flexible on how it numbers your endnotes. This tip shows how easy it is to make the changes to the numbering system.

Discover More

Printing Comments from a Macro

Need to print the comments you've added to a document? You can do it manually or you can have your macro do the printing. ...

Discover More

Pulling First Letters from Parenthetical Text

When working with text in Excel, you can slice and dice it in many ways. This tip shows how to pull first letters from ...

Discover More

Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Adding a File Path and Filename

If you need to stuff the current workbook's filename and path into a cell or a header or footer, you'll appreciate the ...

Discover More

CSV File Opens with Data in a Single Column

When you import a CSV file into an Excel worksheet, you may be surprised at how the program allocates the information ...

Discover More

File Formats that Include Field Formats

If you import data into Excel that is created by other programs, you know that it can be bothersome to get your data ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is seven more than 1?

2025-01-16 04:06:33

Kiwerry

@Mark: While I would agree with you as far as new input applications, or, for example, in cases where the format of the are concerned, I see no point in changing a running system where an existing VBA application is performing satisfactorily.

Apart from that, VBA can be used to write text files as well as read them, which opens, for example, the possibility of exporting of a table of position data as a gpx or kml file.

2025-01-15 06:51:43

Mark

I suggest that VBA be abandoned in favor of the built-in Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) tool - PowerQuery. With it you can do all the rest of typical text file input functions like parsing things, setting up/processing date/times, etc.

2020-09-26 05:12:39

Kiwerry

A quick note for those who have data files in which line 1 doesn't contain a value that indicates how many items are to be read in from the file:
Enclose the read and process code in a while ... wend loop like this
While Not EOF(1)
Line Input #1, Datensatz
' .... do stuff with the string variable Datensatz
Wend

I use this for reading gpx or html files.

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.