Converting string to number

[kenppy]

hi,

I have a set of data that is to be cut and pasted from an external
source.
A typical cell reads '32813.58 sq mm', without the speech marks.
The cell could be formatted before the pasting; but how do I strip off
the units to leave the number only? The number could be any size.

thanks

 

[kenppy]

This works but is still a string, how do I turn this to number?
thanks
[email protected] says...

 

[kenppy]

The data is already loading into columns but the length of the stuff to
strip may not be predicted, how would this be treated?
thanks

[email protected] says...

 

[Bob Phillips]

=--LEFT(A1, LEN(A1)-5)


--

HTH

Bob

This works but is still a string, how do I turn this to number?
thanks
[email protected] says...

 

[Luke M]

=VALUE(LEFT(A1, LEN(A1)-5))

 

[Luke M]

Under Data - Text to Columns, choose delimited. Then choose space as your
delimiter.

 

[Guest]

Thanks all of you, it's working now