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How to delete entire columns based on header value in Excel?

In many cases, you may need to delete the entire columns based on header value in Excel. For example, you need to delete all columns which contain value “old” in the header. In this tutorial, we will show you methods of deleting entire columns based on header value in details.

Delete entire columns based on header value with VBA code
Delete entire columns based on header value with Kutools for Excel

Delete entire columns based on header value with VBA code

You can delete entire columns based on header value with VBA code. Please do as follows.

1. Press Alt + F11 keys simultaneously to open the Microsoft Visual Basic Application window.

2. In the Microsoft Visual Basic Application window, click Insert > Module. And then copy and paste below code into the Module window.

VBA code: delete entire columns based on header value

Sub DeleteSpecifcColumn()
	Set MR = Range("A1:D1")
	For Each cell In MR
		If cell.Value = "old" Then cell.EntireColumn.Delete
	Next
End Sub

Notes:

1) in the code, “old” is the header value which you want to delete the entire column based on. Please change to your header value manually. And A1:D1 is the column range that you want use.
2) This code is case-sensitive.

3. Press the F5 key to run the code, the entire column with a header equals to the specified text will be deleted immediately.

Delete entire columns based on header value with Kutools for Excel

With Kutools for Excel’s Select Specific Cells utility, you can easily select all columns which contains the certain header value first, and then delete these selected columns at once. Please do as follows.

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

1. Select the range which contains the columns you need to delete, and then click Kutools > Select > Select Specific Cells. See screenshot:

2. In the Select Specific Cells dialog box, select the Entire column option in the Selection type section, and in the Specific type drop-down list, select Equals option, then type the header value in the following box. And finally click the OK button. See screenshot:

3. Click the OK button in another popping up dialog box, then the columns which contain specified header value are selected immediately.

4. Right click the column header of selected column, and then click Delete from the right-clicking menu. Then all selected columns are deleted at once.

  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.

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Comments (13)
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Liz
Liz
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Hi, I need to delete a load of columns containing # in the headings - my understanding of VBA is very limited and the report has about 60 columns. The # is not always in the same location in each heading, so I need to identify any columns with the # in the heading and remove those columns. Is anyone able to guide me on this please?

I also need to split the report into 3 sections - the data runs across the worksheet (ie column A - H is Sales invoices; column I-Z is Purchase invoices and column AA-AG is Payments - each of these need to go onto a seperate worksheet - it is very labour intensive doing this manually so I am hoping someone can help me in VBA with this one as well.

Thanks
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Resnick
Resnick
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Hola, tengo una hoja de excel con varios datos, digamos 4 columnas y 12 filas, me gustaría poder imprimir cada fila en un folio separado en una plantilla, es decir, tenemos una hoja con varios nombres y apellidos y teléfono, quiero imprimir tantas páginas como filas tenga la hoja de excel, he inte tado varias cosas pero no encuentro la forma. Gracias de antemano
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crystal
crystal     Resnick
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Hi,
If you want to print each row in a separate page in the worksheet, here is a suggestion that you insert page breaks every 1 row and then print them.
Methods provided in this article may do you a favor. Please have a try. Thank you.
How To Insert Page Break Every X Rows In Excel?[/url]
https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/1774-excel-insert-page-break-every-row.html
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Jonathan
Jonathan
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The VBA example states that the code will delete all columns whose headers CONTAIN "old." That is not the case. The = operator will only delete exact matches. You need to use the LIKE operator with a wildcard.
Fixed code:Sub DeleteSpecifcColumn()
Set MR = Range("A1:D1")
For Each cell In MR
If cell.Value LIKE "old*" Then cell.EntireColumn.Delete
Next
End Sub

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crystal
crystal     Jonathan
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Hi,Thank you for your correction and sharing. 
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Mark
Mark
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Hi, is it possible to do this with multiple column names?
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Rahul
Rahul     Mark
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What if the headers are starting from 4th row
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crystal
crystal     Mark
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Hi Mark,
Try the below code. In the eighth line, please enclose each column name with double quotes and separate them by comma. Hope I can help. Thank you.

Sub DeleteSpecifcColumn()

Dim xFNum, xFFNum, xCount As Integer

Dim xStr As String

Dim xArrName As Variant

Dim MR, xRg As Range

On Error Resume Next

Set MR = Range("A1:N1")

xArrName = Array("old", "new", "get") 'enclose each column name with double quotes and separate them by comma

xCount = MR.Count

xStr = xArrName(xFNum)

For xFFNum = xCount To 1 Step -1

Set xRg = Cells(1, xFFNum)

For xFNum = 0 To UBound(xArrName)

xStr = xArrName(xFNum)

If xRg.Value = xStr Then xRg.EntireColumn.Delete

Next xFNum

Next

End Sub
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Paul Rod
Paul Rod     crystal
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I think line 12 needs to be changed to get the code to work. Original line 12 "Set xRg = Cells(1, xFFNum)" modified line 12 "Set xRg = MR(1, xFFNum)"
Sub DeleteSpecifcColumn()
Dim xFNum, xFFNum, xCount As Integer
Dim xStr As String
Dim xArrName As Variant
Dim MR, xRg As Range
On Error Resume Next
Set MR = Range("A1:N1")
xArrName = Array("old", "new", "get") 'enclose each column name with double quotes and separate them by comma
xCount = MR.Count
xStr = xArrName(xFNum)
For xFFNum = xCount To 1 Step -1
Set xRg = MR(1, xFFNum)
For xFNum = 0 To UBound(xArrName)
xStr = xArrName(xFNum)
If xRg.Value = xStr Then xRg.EntireColumn.Delete
Next xFNum
Next
End Sub
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Elias
Elias
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Hey! This works well until you have two contiguous columns with the same header. Say your range is A1:A5, and A2 and A3 have the header 'old'. It will delete A2, but then the A3 will move to the place A2 used to occupy, and the code will skip it, as it will be looking at the new A3, the next cell on its range.
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crystal
crystal     Elias
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Hi Elias,
As you mentioned, A2 and A3 have he same header "old". But they are in the same column, after applying the code, the whole column A will be removed immediately.
I am not sure I get your point. Would be nice if you could provide screenshot of what you are trying to do.
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Leonard Staggs
Leonard Staggs
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Sorry if this seems super basic but this is my first time trying vba. Using this how would I apply it to delete multiple column headers. I am actually trying to only keep certain header columns and delete the rest of a changing list.
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Ata
Ata     Leonard Staggs
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In the first code just copy the 4th row and change the "old" into the second column name and it will work
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