Blank cell not really blank

[OperationsNETTC15]

I am using Excel 2007 and returning data into a table using xfODBC, which
returns a number of blank cells. If I do an ISBLANK on the blank cells, it
returns FALSE, ISTEXT returns TRUE. I want to assign a new value to the
blank cells, but since Excel is considering it text, the formula would screw
up legitimate values also.

Any ideas?

 

[Gary''s Student]

Do not test a cell with ISBLANK(). ISBLANK() will return TRUE ONLY if the
cell is truly empty.

If the cell contains:
=""
ISBLANK() will return false.

It is better to test with:

=IF(A1="","the cell is relatively empty","the cell is not empty")

 

[OperationsNETTC15]

I used that formula and it returned "the cell is not empty"

I tried to replace Alt-0160 and it did not find any, unfortunately....

It's a mystery.

 

[John]

HI
We would need a sample of your file. If you could upload a sample with your
problem to
a site like this one;http://www.filedropper.com/ and give us the link.
Someone should be able to help you.
Regards
John

 

[Jacob Skaria]

Did you try selecting the data range (Ctrl+A) and copy . Select a new sheet.
Select A1.Right click> PasteSpecial>Values..now try your formulas


If this post helps click Yes

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Assuming A1 is one of your "blank" cells, put this in another cell to see
the ASCII (or ANSI) code for the first character (there could be more than
one, but we need a starting point) and let us know the number it displays...

=CODE(A1)

 

[OperationsNETTC15]

I tried that just now and ISBLANK still returns FALSE

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Assuming A1 is one of your "blank" cells, put this in another cell to see
the ASCII (or ANSI) code for the first character (there could be more than
one, but we need a starting point) and let us know the number it displays...

=CODE(A1)

 

[OperationsNETTC15]

039617 48
32
32
039512 48
32
32
32
039677 48
32
32
32
32
32
32
039579 48
32
32
039736 48
32

 

[OperationsNETTC15]

I solved my dilemma.

IF($B2=48, $A2, "000000")

Code() did the trick for me, thank you!

 

[Rick Rothstein]

I'm not entirely clear on what is in your cell or whether the formula you
posted is what you really need or want. The CODE function (which is
returning 48 for the entry 039617) is giving you the code value for the
leading 0... do all your non-blank cells start with 0? Also, you are showing
32 for the code your "blank" cells... 32 *is* the code for a blank space; so
your "blank" cells are not really empty, they contain at least one blank
character (I guess there could be more). You could one of two things
(besides what you showed us for your solution)... one, clean up your data to
remove the blank characters or, two, you should be able to eliminate the
helper column (the one with the CODE function in it) and use this instead...

=IF(TRIM($B2)="","000000",$A2)

Doing the test this way will allow entries in your Column A cells that don't
start with a 0. This, of course, assumes the "blank" cells in Column A have
one or more spaces in them and no other non-printable characters.