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How to remove some special characters from string in Excel?

If there are some special characters such as %^&*() within the text strings, and now, you want to remove theses specific characters from the cell strings. To remove them one by one will be time-consuming, here, I will introduce some quick tricks for solving this task in Excel.

Remove some special characters from text string with User Defined Function

Remove some special characters from text string with Kutools for Excel

arrow blue right bubble Remove some special characters from text string with User Defined Function

The following VBA code can help you to remove the specific characters you need, please do as follows:

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

2. Click Insert > Module, and paste the following code in the Module Window.

VBA code: Remove some special characters from text string

Function RemoveSpecial(Str As String) As String
'updatebyExtendoffice 20160303
    Dim xChars As String
    Dim I As Long
    xChars = "#$%()^*&"
    For I = 1 To Len(xChars)
        Str = Replace$(Str, Mid$(xChars, I, 1), "")
    Next
    RemoveSpecial = Str
End Function

3. Then save and close this code, go back to the worksheet, and enter this formula: =removespecial(A2) into a blank cell where you want to put the result, see screenshot:

doc remove special characters 1

4. And then drag the fill handle down to the cells which you want to apply this formula, and all the special characters that you needn’t have been removed from the text string, see screenshot:

doc remove special characters 2

Note: In the above code, you can change the special characters #$%()^*& to any others that you want to remove.

emove numeric, alpha or other special characters from text string

Kutools for Excel's Remove Characters feature can help you to quickly remove all numeric, alpha, non-numeric, non-alpha, non-printing, other specific characters from text strings as you need. Click to Download and free trial Kutools for Excel Now!

doc remove special characters 7

Kutools for Excel: with more than 300 handy Excel add-ins, free to try with no limitation in 30 days. Download and free trial Now!

If you are not skilled with the VBA code, Kutools for Excel’s Remove Characters utility can help you finish this task quickly and easily.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please so as follows:

1. Select the text strings that you want to remove some special characters.

2. Click Kutools > Text > Remove Characters, see screenshot:

3. In the Remove Characters dialog box, check Custom option under the Remove Characters section, and enter the special characters that you want to remove, see screenshot:

doc remove special characters 4

4. And then click Ok or Apply button, the characters you specified in the Custom textbox have been removed from the text strings at once, see screenshots:

doc remove special characters 5 2 doc remove special characters 6

Click to Download and free trial Kutools for Excel Now!

Kutools for Excel: with more than 300 handy Excel add-ins, free to try with no limitation in 30 days. Download and free trial Now!

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Comments (11)
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Linny Anthony
Linny Anthony
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Excelllent .. Five Stars.. thanks a lot
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Cris
Cris
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Thanks for this code
Function RemoveSpecial(Str As String) As String
'updatebyExtendoffice 20160303
Dim xChars As String
Dim I As Long
xChars = "#$%()^*&"
For I = 1 To Len(xChars)
Str = Replace$(Str, Mid$(xChars, I, 1), "")
Next
RemoveSpecial = Str
End Function

But it is possible that that can remove specific text? like "ab", "abc", "bc" and etc.
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minhys1
minhys1
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With Emoji need remove, how ?
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gndecastro@gmail.com
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Rather than searching for specific special characters, how about if you want to search for and replace ALL special characters. In other words, how would you write the search for NOT one of the following characters: "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
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skyyang
skyyang    
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Hi, Nick,
Do you want to remove all ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789 characters from the cells?
Looking forward to your reply, thank you!
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gndecastro@gmail.com
    skyyang
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No. I want to keep only "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
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skyyang
skyyang    
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Nick,
Maybe the below VBA code can solve your problem, please try:

Sub RemoveNotAlphasNotNum()
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)
For Each Rng In WorkRng
xOut = ""
For i = 1 To Len(Rng.Value)
xTemp = Mid(Rng.Value, i, 1)
If xTemp Like "[a-z.]" Or xTemp Like "[A-Z.]" Or xTemp Like "[0-9.]" Then
xStr = xTemp
Else
xStr = ""
End If
xOut = xOut & xStr
Next i
Rng.Value = xOut
Next
End Sub


Hope it can help you!
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Kim
Kim
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Hmm I wonder, does it only work in the worksheet you've originally pasted the code in?
As for that one it only seems to work, not for any new workbook you open
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skyyang
skyyang     Kim
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Hello, Kim,
The VBA code can only applied in one workbook, if you want to apply it in a new workbook, you should copy and paste the code into your new workbook again.
Thank you!
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Kim
Kim
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Hi guys,

I've applied the =removespecial(A2) code and it works perfectly in one worksheet but then in the other it gives me an invalid #NAME? error.
I checked the "format cells" and it's both on general and I've copied the same text + formula to both worksheets but it won't work.
Any clue what this might cause this?

Thanks and thank you so much for this code.
Saves me hours and hours of work!

Regards, Kim
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Deepak
Deepak
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Function GetWordWOSpecChar(Rng As Range)
'paste in VBA module, Use as a Formula
'Created by Deepak Sharma
Arr = Array("48", "49", "50", "51", "52", "53", "54", "55", _
"56", "57", "65", "66", "67", "68", "69", "70", "71", "72", "73", "74", "75", _
"76", "77", "78", "79", "80", "81", "82", "83", "84", "85", "86", "87", "88", _
"89", "90", "97", "98", "99", "100", "101", "102", "103", "104", "105", "106", _
"107", "108", "109", "110", "111", "112", "113", "114", "115", "116", "117", _
"118", "119", "120", "121", "122")

For i = 1 To Len(Rng.Value)
txt = Mid(Rng.Value, i, 1)
For g = 1 To UBound(Arr)
If txt = Chr(Arr(g)) Then GetWord = Right(Rng.Value, Len(Rng.Value) - (i - 1)): Exit Function
Next g
Next i

End Function
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