Difference between .Delete and .Clear in Excel VBA?

Question

What is the difference between Worksheets(1).Cells.Delete and Worksheets(1).Cells.Clear ?

I'm asking this because I've always used .Clear to clear my Worksheet content, but in my previous post I've discovered that Worksheets(1).Cells.Delete not only delete my Worksheet content but it also set Columns on their default width!

Can anyone explain me the difference? And also can I give a range to .Delete ?

Answer 1

Range.Delete actually delete respective range and shifts/move cells accordingly thus changing the structure of the worksheet. It's same if you select cells and right-click to Delete selection. You get asked how do you want to move cells.

Range.Clear will just clear the content and formatting, but will not delete cells and not change the structure of the worksheet.

There is also Range.ClearContents that will clear just content, but preserve formatting, Range.ClearFormats to just clear formatting of the cells and Range.ClearComments , Range.ClearHyperlinks , Range.ClearNotes and Range.ClearOutline

Answer 2

There is a variety of .clear functions available in excel vba, tailored specifically to each situation and what you are trying to accomplish. Some documentation and explanation can be found on this page Here is a list of the several varieties:

Clear            Remove formatting and contents 
ClearFormats     Remove cell formatting, including font format 
ClearComments    Remove comments 
ClearHyperlinks  Reomve hyperlinks, but the default format of hyperlink is not removed 
Clear Notes      Remove Notes 
ClearOutline     Remove Outline 
Delete           Remove the entire cell

An in-depth explanation of .delete behaviour can be found here.

In short, .clear removes cell contents and certain types of formatting when specified. .delete removes the entire cell and whatever formatting and shifts the rest of the documents in to cover the gap.

@ChangeWorld to answer your edited question: .delete deletes the cell entirely, but shifts the cells around it to cover the gap. Like water flowing in a hole. The cell that replaces it can be below and have the same settings applied to it. If you want the settings to disappear completely use .entirerow.delete which gets rid of the row and replaces it with the one below it. .entirecolumn.delete gets rid of the column and replaces it with the one on the right. Whatever cells replace the deleted ones, the settings and formatting from those cells will then apply.