Replacing Letters with Numbers in sequence in an excel formula

Question

I'm wanting to update a column based on another that has drill holes listed in sequence, the update needs to replace a character within the sequence, such that A = 0, B = 1, C = 2 etc... Is there a way to do this without writing a really big IF/Then type formula?

I've tried the replace formula, but I've only managed to update one letter at a time..

In the example below; The Hole_ID_2 (column R) is the desired output using the Hole_ID (Column P) data.

Any help will be appreciated, cheers

Answer 1

As long as all IDs to replace are of the same structure (10 characters in length and the letter to replace at position 8), one could get the ANSI code of the letter using CODE and calculate that code to the appropriate number then.

That would avoid many nested SUBSTITUTE functions.

Your Example:

Formula in R3 downwards:

=LEFT(P3,7)&CODE(MID(P3,8,1))-65&RIGHT(P3,2)

Answer 2

Have you considered the substitute() function?

=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A3,"a",1),"b",2),"c",3)

assuming your data starts in cell A3.

Answer 3

Just to give you another option:

=SUBSTITUTE(RIGHT(P3,LEN(P3)-1),MID(P3,MID(1,ISERROR(VALUE(MID(RIGHT(P3,LEN(P3)-1),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(P3))),1)))*1,0)+1,1),CODE(MID(P3,MATCH(1,ISERROR(VALUE(MID(RIGHT(P3,LEN(P3)-1),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(P3))),)))*1,0)+1,1))-65)

It looks a bit scary but it just substitutes the first non numerical character found in the string without taking into acount the first N . Its an array formula so it should be entered as such!

It will be more dynamic as it doesn't matter where the non-numerical character is placed.