Excel: Creating Criteria to Find Numbers or Text in Field

SUMMARY

To extract records from a Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh version 1.0. 1.03, 1.04, 1.06, 1.5, 2.2, or 3.0 database based on whether a field in the record contains a number or text, use a computed criteria with the TYPE function.

For example, to find all records that contain a number in the "CODE" field of the following database, a computed criteria has been created in E1:E2:

   +---+-----------+----------+---+-------------+
   |   |     A     |     B    | D |      E      |
   +---+-----------+----------+---+-------------+
   | 1 | NAME      | CODE     |   |             |
   +---+-----------+----------+---+-------------+
   | 2 | Sam       |      156 |   | =TYPE(B2)=1 |
   +---+-----------+----------+---+-------------+
   | 3 | Nancy     |   34a-12 |   |             |
   +---+-----------+----------+---+-------------+
   | 4 | Fred      |    10021 |   |             |
   +---+-----------+----------+---+-------------+
   | 5 | Carol     |    7b-15 |   |             |
   +---+-----------+----------+---+-------------+

To define the criteria range, select cells E1:E2 and choose Set Criteria from the Data menu.

MORE INFORMATION

When creating a computed criteria, you must observe the following rules:

1. The field name of the computed criteria must be different from any of the field names in the database. In the above example, E1 is left blank.

2. You must use a relative reference to the first record in the field of the database you want to reference in the formula. For example, B2 is a relative reference to the first record in the "CODE" field in the formula =TYPE(B2)=1.

Note: This information also applies to Microsoft Excel for Windows versions 2.1, 2.1c, and 3.0, and to Microsoft Excel for OS/2 versions 2.2, 2.21, and 3.0.