XL: Macro to Select Every nth Row/Column

ID: Q125267

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you can create a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro (Sub procedure) to select every nth row within a currently selected contiguous range on a worksheet. An example of such a procedure is provided below.

MORE INFORMATION

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The following macro selects every third row in the current selection. To change the number of rows between each selected row, change the value of the RowsBetween variable (for example, if you want to select every fourth row, set RowsBetween equal to 4).

NOTE: You must have a contiguous range of cells selected before you run this macro.

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Sub SelectEveryNthRow()

       ' Initialize ColsSelection equal to the number of columns in the
       ' selection.
       ColsSelection = Selection.Columns.Count

       ' Initialize RowsSelection equal to the number of rows in your
       ' selection.
       RowsSelection = Selection.Rows.Count

       ' Initialize RowsBetween equal to three.
       RowsBetween = 3

       ' Initialize Diff equal to one row less than the first row number of
       ' the selection.
       Diff = Selection.Row - 1

       ' Resize the selection to be 1 column wide and the same number of
       ' rows long as the initial selection.
       Selection.Resize(RowsSelection, 1).Select

       ' Resize the selection to be every third row and the same number of
       ' columns wide as the original selection.
       Set FinalRange = Selection. _
          Offset(RowsBetween - 1, 0).Resize(1,ColsSelection)

       ' Loop through each cell in the selection.
       For Each xCell In Selection

           ' If the row number is a multiple of 3, then . . .
           If xCell.Row Mod RowsBetween = Diff Then
               ' ...reset FinalRange to include the union of the current
               ' FinalRange and the same number of columns.
               Set FinalRange = Application.Union _
                   (FinalRange, xCell.Resize(1,ColsSelection))
           ' End check.
           End If
       ' Iterate loop.
       Next xCell
       ' Select the requested cells in the range.
       FinalRange.Select
   End Sub
For an example of a similar Microsoft Excel 4.0 macro, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

    ARTICLE-ID: Q103165
    TITLE     : Excel: Macro to Select a Range Every nth Row/Column
Additional query words: 7.00 5.00 XL97 XL98 XL7 XL5 
Keywords          : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmHowto KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:5.0,98
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999