Emmanuel would like to know how he can use conditional formatting to highlight a cell if that cell contains a mix of both numbers and letters. If the it contains all letters or all numbers, the cell should not be highlighted.
In this tip I won't focus on how to create a conditional format; there have been plenty of other ExcelTips that focused on that task. What I will focus on is a few formulas you could use in defining the condirtional formatting rule. The formula needs to examine the value in the cell and return "True" if it contains both letters and numbers, and "False" in all other instances.
Here are three different formulas you can try in the rule:
=SUM(IFERROR(FIND(ROW($1:$10)-1,A1),))*ISTEXT(A1)
=AND(ISTEXT(A1),MATCH(FALSE,ISERROR(1*MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:15")),1)),0))
=AND(SUM(--(ISNUMBER(--MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("A1:A"&LEN(A1))),1)))),ISTEXT(A1))
Any of these formulas work just fine (I would personally choose use the shortest one—less typing!), but there is one potential drawback. If you have numeric digits stored in a cell and the cell as formatted as Text, then the formulas will still return "True" and the conditional format is applied. This occurs because each of the formulas use the ISTEXT function, which looks at the format of the cell to see if it contains text.
The easiest way to get around this potential "false positive" is to create a user-defined function (a macro) that can then be referenced in your conditional formatting rule. Here's a very simple UDF that returns "True" only if the cell contents (not its format) contain both letters and numbers:
Function CheckChars(r As Range) As Boolean
CheckChars = False
If r Like "*#*" And UCase(r) Like "*[A-Z]*" Then CheckChars = True
End Function
In order to use this in your conditional formatting rule, simply use this formula:
=CheckChars(A1)
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (13422) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.
Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!
Conditional formatting can be used to draw attention to all sorts of data based upon the criteria you specify. Here's how ...
Discover MoreSometimes the hardest part of getting your conditional formatting rules to work properly is figuring out the proper way ...
Discover MoreConditional formatting can be used to highlight cells that contain the improper type of data for your needs. This tip ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2021-05-20 07:02:43
Angeles Martinez Fontal
God bless you Willy! It works :)
Only caveat is I must save the xls as a Macro sheet but I hope the team can live with that. I was saving all macros in the PERSONAL.XLSB file until now
Thank you so so very much!
Love the generosity of spirit found on the Internet when it comes to software tips. I have learnt so much and have thanked so many souls already.
Thank YOU Truly
Angeles
2021-05-19 13:20:04
Willy Vanhaelen
@Angeles
The only simple solution is to use the UDF approach proposed in this tip using the following very small macro that you enter in a module:
Function CheckChars(r As Range) As Boolean
CheckChars = Len(r) And Not r Like "*[0-9]*"
End Function
In order to use this in your conditional formatting rule, simply use this formula:
=CheckChars(A1)
Only cells containing no digits will be highlighted. Spaces and punctuation marks are preserved. if you want to exclude those as well, replace "*[0-9]*" with "*[!A-Za-z]*".
2021-05-17 12:18:38
Angeles
Hello Allen,
Thanks for this. It is almost exactly what I need. How can I modify your formula to actually highlight the cells that your formula is not highlighting? I only need to highlight cells containing TEXT, ignoring those with text and numbers
Thanks for any help
2018-07-19 11:07:27
Peter Atherton
Vignesh
If you're text is is A1 and you enter this in B1 =ISNUMBER(MID(A1,4,1)*1) it will return TRUE or FALSE. You can use this in conditional format as in
=ISNUMBER(MID(A1,4,1)*1)=FALSE
(see Figure 1 below)
Figure 1.
2018-07-18 05:16:04
Vignesh
Hi ,
I have a question, I need to highlight the cell if the fourth digit is "Alphabet". Anyone suggest formulas
2016-01-18 13:35:52
Michael (Micky) Avidan
Sorry,
Missed the formulas at the upper part of the tip.
--------------------------
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answers" - Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2016)
ISRAEL
2016-01-18 13:33:39
Michael (Micky) Avidan
@To whom it may concern:
For the range B2:B8 > FIRST YOU MUST SELECT that range and then declare the C.F. relying on a formula such as:
=SUM(IFERROR(FIND(ROW($1:$10)-1,B2),))*ISTEXT(B2)
See sample in the following links:
http://jpg.co.il/view/5690ef1a0823f.png/
http://screenpresso.com/=66Tgg
--------------------------
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answers" - Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2016)
ISRAEL
2016-01-18 00:25:11
Niranjan
Thanks for this tip. It's going to be useful for many for sure.
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.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2021 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments