Search Specific Text, Compare, and then Copy & Paste in VBA

Question

In Excel,

I have a bunch of information on Sheet1/column A and would like to search specific text (starting from the word N1*PE* up to the 9 numbers before "~N"),

And then compare (Sheet1/Column A) from the correct list (Sheet2/Column A) & then paste it on a separate worksheet (Sheet3/Column A).

Here's an example:

In Sheet 1 Column A : (I have WRONG information below)

EDI DEPARTMENT*TE*2658018518~N1*PE* ELMHUR

ST CENTER*XX*564824568~N4*GREAT NECK*NY*11023

N1*PE COOPER XX*333333333~N4*NEW YORK*NY*10077-5281~REF*TJ*133988001~LX*7111~

As you noticed, the word ELMHURST is broken.

What I would like to accomplish is to replace the wrong text (on Sheet1/Column A) based from the sample list (On Sheet2/Column A) and paste it on Sheet3/Column A --> using the same format .

Here's the (CORRECT) Sample Information List (Sheet2/Column A):

N1*PE ELMHURST CENTER XX*454545457

N1*PE COOPER XX*123457777

So, in the result should be:

In Sheet3/Column A...

EDI DEPARTMENT*TE*2658018518~N1*PE* ELMHUR

ST CENTER*XX*454545457~N4*GREAT NECK*NY*11023

N1*PE COOPER XX*123457777~N4*NEW YORK*NY*10077-5281~REF*TJ*133988001~LX*7111~

The Code below is incomplete. As it can only copy and paste on Sheet2 Column A.

Option Explicit


Public Sub Transfer()

Dim lngRow As Long, lngWriteRow As Long, strTemp As String

Dim shtRaw As Worksheet, shtNew As Worksheet

'   Initialize

lngWriteRow = 1                     'The row we're writing to

Set shtRaw = Sheets("Sheet1")       'The raw data worksheet

Set shtNew = Sheets("Sheet2")       'The sheet with the concatenated text

For lngRow = 1 To shtRaw.UsedRange.Rows.Count

    If InStr(1, shtRaw.Cells(lngRow, 1), "N1*PE*", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then

'           Grab the end of this cell's text starting at N1*PE*

        strTemp = Mid(shtRaw.Cells(lngRow, 1), InStr(1, shtRaw.Cells
 (lngRow, 1), "N1*PE*", vbTextCompare))

'           Add the start of the next cell's text, up to the ~N


    strTemp = strTemp & Left(shtRaw.Cells(lngRow + 1, 1), InStr(1, shtRaw.Cells(lngRow + 1, 1), "~N", vbTextCompare))


'           Write the concatenated string to the other worksheet
            shtNew.Cells(lngWriteRow, 1) = strTemp

'           NEED TO DO SOMETHING HERE... COMPARE THE TEXT FROM THE LIST AND PASTE IT ON SHEET 3 COLUMN A            

'           Move down one row for the next time we write to the other sheet
        lngWriteRow = lngWriteRow + 1

    End If

Next lngRow

'Sort the NPIs

Sheets("Sheet2").Select

Range("A:A").Sort Key1:=Range("A2"), Order1:=xlAscending, Header:=xlYes


'   Clean up memory

Set shtRaw = Nothing

Set shtNew = Nothing


End Sub

Many Thanks in advance...

Answer 1

The below may work. Your replacement values seem to have arbitrarily missing * and space characters compared to the originals (ie PE* ELM.. vs PEELM..). That makes it hard to be certain how long each repaired row should be on Sheet3. I made an arbitrary decision it should be the same length as the first of the two cells I'm concatenating for the purpose of this demo, but that method might need some refinement after many rows have been processed. If you need the start characters to match existing you need to do something similar to what I did here and and find the positions of the following row start characters and divide the NewCombinedString accordingly.

Sub FixSheet1ColumnA()
    Dim i As Integer
    i = 1
    Do While Sheet1.Range("A" & i) <> ""
        'Combined adjoining rows to account for values which overlap between rows
        Dim Cell1Value As String
        Dim Cell2Value As String
        Dim CombinedString As String
        'The upper of the rows should come from whatever has been processed onto
        'Sheet3 except for the very first row which has to come from Sheet1
        If i = 1 Then Cell1Value = Sheet1.Range("A" & i) Else Cell1Value = Sheet3.Range("A" & i)
        Cell2Value = Sheet1.Range("A" & i + 1)
        CombinedString = Cell1Value & Cell2Value
        Dim SearchString As String
        'Strip the * and space characters out of the string to search it as there
        'seem to be random extras of these in Sheet1 column A
        SearchString = Replace(Replace(CombinedString, " ", ""), "*", "")
        'Cycle through Sheet2 column A to see if there are any matches for the
        'first n-9 digits of each value there, also removing * and space characters
        'for consistency
        Dim j As Integer
        j = 1
        Do While Sheet2.Range("A" & j) <> ""
            Dim ReplacementString As String
            ReplacementString = Sheet2.Range("A" & j)
            Dim FindString As String
            FindString = Replace(Replace(ReplacementString, " ", ""), "*", "")
            'determine if the first n-9 characters of the given Sheet2 value are found
            Dim SubStringPosition As Integer
            SubStringPosition = InStr(1, SearchString, Left(FindString, Len(FindString) - 9))
            If SubStringPosition <> 0 Then
                'Find the tilde that immediately precedes the string to be replaced
                Dim FirstTildePosition As Integer
                FirstTildePosition = InStr(SubStringPosition, CombinedString, "~")
                'Find the tilde that follows it
                Dim SecondTildePosition As Integer
                SecondTildePosition = InStr(FirstTildePosition + 1, CombinedString, "~")
                Dim NewCombinedString As String
                NewCombinedString = Left(CombinedString, FirstTildePosition) _
                    + ReplacementString _
                    + Right(CombinedString, Len(CombinedString) - SecondTildePosition + 1)
                Exit Do
            End If
            j = j + 1
        Loop
        'Populate the first part of potentially fixed CombinedString into Sheet3
        If i = 1 Then Sheet3.Range("A" & i) = Left(NewCombinedString, Len(Cell1Value))
        Sheet3.Range("A" & i + 1) = Right(NewCombinedString, Len(NewCombinedString) - Len(Cell1Value))
        i = i + 1
    Loop
End Sub