Change negative nmbr to positive

[Tom]

I have a table of numbers, some positive, some negative. Is there a way so
remove the "negativity" and change the number to a positive?? Would like to
do without altering the table of numbers or adding extra formulas.

Got me puzzled..

Thanx
Tom

 

[Dave]

Hi Tom,
Select Replace from the Edit menu.
In the Find What field, put -
Leave the Replace With field blank.
Click Replace All (if there are no wanted negative numbers on the sheet)
Regards - Dave.

 

[Tom]

Well... That would have worked swell but there are hyphens in some of the
part descriptions and part numbers... It's the negatives inthe quantity
fields I need to change....

 

[Rick Rothstein \(MVP - VB\)]

Select the columns with your quantities in them (if more than one column,
Ctrl+<click> their headers to select them) and then follow the Edit/Replace
instructions Dave posted.

Rick

 

[Dave]

Hi Tom,
Depending on how big your numerical data table is, you can do the Replace
thing, but just step through it by using Find Next, Replace, Find Next,
Replace. You can speed this up by selecting the first cell in the table, and
selecting By Rows or By Columns, as appropriate.
Regards - Dave

 

[Dave Peterson]

Maybe...

Select the range to fix -- include text and numbers
Then Edit|Goto (or hit the F5 button)
Select constants
and check numbers, but uncheck the others (text, logicals and errors)

Then do the edit|replace against that subset of the original range.

 

[RJB]

Not necessarily elegant:

Say your numbers are in column B.

Add a column, let's say Column Z.
Z2=ABS(B2)
Z3=ABS(B3)... and so on.

Then, COPY Column Z,

Highlight Column B,

PASTE SPECIAL/Values

 

[Lisa]

Brilliant! I was trying to use formulas and kept winding up with an extra
unwanted column that confused everyone even if it was hidden.
Thank you!