splitting the values from one column into two

E

Elise

I have spreadsheet that has a column for names. The names have been input as
follows: lastname, firstname". Is there a way to copy the first name to a
new column and the last name to a different column?
 
T

TomHinkle

Data menu,
Text to columns command

It will handle delimited or fixed width data in one column to several
 
C

ClaytonS

Do a "Text to Column" under "Data". Be sure to insert an extra column before
you split your text first.
 
P

Peo Sjoblom

There are probably some names that would need to be altered manually but
using your eaxample

=LEFT(A1,find(",",A1)-1)

for the last name, assum you put this in B1, then for first name in C1

=TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A1,B1&",",""))

or you can make sure the next column to the right is empty, then do
data>text to columns, delimited, select comma and click finish

That will basically split the columns into 2

Also when you are done with the formulas, copy them, then do edit>paste
special as values in place to make them independent of the name column

Regards,

Peo Sjoblom
 
E

Elise

Thanks so much.
--
Elise King-Lynch


TomHinkle said:
Data menu,
Text to columns command

It will handle delimited or fixed width data in one column to several
Click to expand...
 
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