2009/9/26 Wade Smart <[email protected]> > JOE Conner wrote: > >> Wade Smart wrote: >> >>> I have a group of numbers in a column >>> 265879-09-24-71-918-333-0055 >>> and I need to take the fourth set of numbers, in this case the 71, and >>> subtract it from the current year to get the age of the item. >>> >>> Ideas on how to do that? >>> >>> Wade >>> >> Is this a spreadsheet column or is it writer? >> > > Sorry, spreed sheet. > > > Wade > > Assume the numbers are in column A.
1. Copy column A to column B 2. Select column B 3. Go to the Find & Replace menu 4. In the Find box enter "[:digit:]+-[:digit:]+-[:digit:]+-([:digit:]+)-[:digit:].*" without the quotes 5. In the Replace box enter "$1" without the quotes 6. Click More Options 7. Check Regular expressions 8. Check Current selection only 9. Click Replace All 10. The values in column B will change so that it only contains the 4th number in each row. 11. In column C enter an appropriate formula such as "=YEAR(NOW())-(B1+1900)" assuming the "71" in your example means 1971. -- Harold Fuchs London, England Please reply *only* to [email protected]
