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How to quickly remove dashes from cells in Excel?

Supposing there is a list of zip codes or long ISBN numbers in your worksheet cells, and the long numbers contain dashes, for some purpose, you need to get rid of the dashes between the numbers (as following screenshots show). Are there any quick ways to remove these dashes between the numbers in excel?

Remove dashes from cells with formula
Remove dashes from cells with VBA code
Easily remove dashes from cells with Kutools for Excel


Remove dashes from cells with formula

With this SUBSTITUTE function, the numbers will be converted to text values, so when you remove the dashes, neither the leading 0 will be removed nor the numbers will become scientific notation. Please do as follows:

1. In an adjacent blank cell, C1 for instance, enter this formula: =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"-",""), see screenshot:

2. Press Enter key, and select cell C1, then drag the fill handle to the range that you want to contain this formula. And the dashes between the numbers have been removed. See screenshot:

Easily remove all numeric, non-numeric or specified characters such as "dashes"from cells in Excel:

Kutools for Excel's Remove Characters utility helps you easily remove all numeric, non-numeric or specified characters from selected cells in Excel.
Download and try it now! (30-day free trail)


Remove dashes from cells with VBA code

With the following VBA code, you can also remove the dashes between the numbers from a range of cells.

1. Highlight the range that you want to remove the dashes.

2. Hold down the ALT + F11 keys to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

3. Click Insert > Module, and paste the following code in the Module window.

VBA: remove dashes between numbers

Sub DeleteDashes()
'Update 20130907
Dim rng As Range
Dim WorkRng As Range
On Error Resume Next
xTitleId = "KutoolsforExcel"
Set WorkRng = Application.Selection
Set WorkRng = Application.InputBox("Range", xTitleId, WorkRng.Address, Type:=8)
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
For Each rng In WorkRng
    rng.NumberFormat = "@"
    rng.Value = VBA.Replace(rng.Value, "-", "")
Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub

4. Then press F5 key to run this code, and a dialog is popped out to tell you select a range that you want to use. See screenshot:

5. And then click OK, the dashes between the numbers have been removed from the cells. And the number format is converted to text format. See screenshots:


Remove dashes from cells with Kutools for Excel

If you are an Excel beginner, both the formula and the code are difficult for you, please don’t worry, the Kutools for Excel’s Remove Characters function can help you quickly delete the dashes from the cells.

Before applying Kutools for Excel, please download and install it firstly.

1. Select the range which cells you need to remove dashes, and then click Kutools > Text > Remove Characters, see screenshot:

2. In the Remove Characters dialog box, check Custom option, and type “-”character into the text box, then you can preview the results from the Preview Pane. Then click the OK button to remove all dashes in selected cells. See screenshot:

Note. If the selected cells contain leading zeros or lots of digits, for keeping the leading zeros and avoiding the number become scientific notation after removing the dashes, you need to format the cells as Text as below screenshot shown before applying the Remove Characters utility.

  If you want to have a free trial (30-day) of this utility, please click to download it, and then go to apply the operation according above steps.


Easily remove dashes from cells with Kutools for Excel


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Comments (9)
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This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
this and the concatenate command have saved my brain from melting! thank you!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Sub DeleteDashes() 'Update 20130907 Dim rng As Range Dim WorkRng As Range On Error Resume Next xTitleId = "KutoolsforExcel" Set WorkRng = Application.Selection Set WorkRng = Application.InputBox("Range", xTitleId, WorkRng.Address, Type:=8) Application.ScreenUpdating = False For Each rng In WorkRng rng.NumberFormat = "@" rng.Value = VBA.Replace(rng.Value, "-", "") Next Application.ScreenUpdating = True End Sub
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
unimpressed with your instructions - using the =SUBSTITUTE formula above, the leading zeros are stripped
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
THANK YOU EXTEND OFFICE IT'S VERY HELPFUL AND SIMPLE.. KUDOS!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Use the find and replace feature. (Ctrl + F, click the replace tab). Enter "-" Into the find field (or whatever you're trying to remove) and hit the replace button. Make sure you leave the "Replace with" field blank.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Great it works
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
WOW.... You win this whole thread, THANK YOU!!!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hi, This is manish gupta and it is the good code of removing the border areas in excel sheets. thanks and regards manish gupta
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
HI , MY PROBMEL SOLVE PLEASE
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