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formatting - How to convert text to numbers for all cells in a spreadsheet?


I have a spreadsheet containing values that are entered as text by having an apostrophe ' in front. I tried the search and replace function, but for some reason it couldn't find those cells containing an apostrophe in front. I tried changing the cell format to number, but it didn't cause those text to become numbers.


Because there are many cells like that, it would take a long time to individually delete the starting apostrophe in each cell. Is there a faster way to do this?



Answer



I found out these things




  1. Use LibreOffice version 3.6.5 instead of 4.0.
    The newest LibreOffice 4.0 (see changelog) changed its RegEx engine to ICU regexp engine. As a result I wasn't able to use the LibreOffice 3.6.5 solution for LibreOffice 4.0


    (Maybe this has changed since this answer was given in 2013. So try out the newest available version first)




  2. Disable Tools » AutoCorrect Options » Localized options » Single quotes.
    This option replaces your single quote with a similar looking apostrophe. Unfortunately this doesn't change your existing cells


    The screenshot demonstrates the visual difference with and without this option enabled enter image description here




  3. To replace cells with leading single quote: ' (U+0027):


    Press CTRL+H » Click More options » Check Regular expressions.
    Search for ^.*$ and replace with &


    It searches for everything inside a cell and replace the cell content with the existing cell content - but without the leading single quote since you disabled the AutoCorrect option. Have a look at the reference if you want to read more about Regular Expressions




  4. To replace cells with leading apostrophes: ‘ (U+2018) or ’(U+2019) or ʼ (U+02BC):
    Which character is used depends on where you live and what local settings are used


    Press CTRL+H » Click More options » Check Regular expressions.
    Search for ^[‘’ʼ] and replace with nothing.





Alternative


Copy & Paste the whole spreadsheet content to Notepad or Notepad++, do the Search & Replace and copy the content back.


Used Resources



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