Excel to text file vba

Below we will look at a program in Excel VBA that writes an Excel range to a CSV (comma-separated-value) text file.

Situation:

Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines:

1. First, we declare a variable called myFile of type String, an object called rng of type Range, a variable called cellValue of type Variant, a variable called i of type Integer, and a variable called j of type Integer. We use a Variant variable here because a Variant variable can hold any type of value.

Dim myFile As String, rng As Range, cellValue As Variant, i As Integer, j As Integer

2. We need to specify the full path and the filename of the file.

myFile = Application.DefaultFilePath & «sales.csv»

Note: the DefaultFilePath property returns the default file path. To change the default file location, on the File tab, click Options, Save.

3. We initialize the range object rng with the selected range.

Set rng = Selection

4. Add the following code line:

Open myFile For Output As #1

Note: this statement allows the file to be written to. We can refer to the file as #1 during the rest of our code. If the file already exists, it will be deleted and a new file with the same name will be created.

5. Start a Double Loop.

For i = 1 To rng.Rows.Count
    For j = 1 To rng.Columns.Count

Note: rng.Rows.Count returns the number of rows (17 in this example) and rng.Columns.Count returns the number of columns (4 in this example).

6. Excel VBA writes the value of a cell to the variable cellValue.

cellValue = rng.Cells(i, j).Value

7. Add the following code lines to write the value of cellValue to the text file.

If j = rng.Columns.Count Then
    Write #1, cellValue
Else
    Write #1, cellValue,
End If

Explanation: due to the If Then Else statement, Excel VBA only starts a new line (Write #1, cellValue) when j equals the number of columns (last value in a row). To separate the values with a comma, use Write #1, cellValue, (with a comma).

8. Don’t forget to close both loops.

Next j
Next i

9. Close the file.

Close #1

10. Select the data and click the command button on the sheet.

Result:

This VBA Program reads an Excel Range (Sales Data) and write to a Text file (Sales.txt)

Excel VBA code to read data from an Excel file (Sales Data – Range “A1:E26”).  Need two “For loop” for rows and columns. Write each value with a comma in the text file till the end of columns (write without comma only the last column value). Do the above step until reach the end of rows. 

Sales Data in Excel: 5 columns and 25 rows

VBA code to create a text file as below

VBA Code:

• Declaring Variables :  

'Variable declarations
Dim myFileName As String, rng As Range, cellVal As Variant, row As Integer, col As Integer

• Initialize variables:
  • myFileName: The file name with the full path of the output text file
  • rng: Excel range to read data from an excel.

'Full path of the text file
myFileName = "D:ExcelWriteTextsales.txt"
'Data range need to write on text file
Set rng = ActiveSheet.Range("A1:E26")

Open the output text file and assign a variable “#1”

'Open text file
Open myFileName For Output As #1

‘Nested loop to iterate both rows and columns of a given range eg: “A1:E26” [5 columns and 26 rows]

'Number of Rows
For row = 1 To rng.Rows.Count
   'Number of Columns
   For col = 1 To rng.Columns.Count

Assign the value to variable cellVal 

cellVal = rng.Cells(row, col).Value

Write cellVal with comma.  If the col is equal to the last column of a row.  write-only value without the comma.

'write cellVal on text file
    If col = rng.Columns.Count Then
        Write #1, cellVal 
    Else
        Write #1, cellVal, 
    End If

Close both for loops

   Next col
Next row

Close the file

Close #1

Approach:

Step 1: Add a shape (Create Text File) to your worksheet 

Step 2: Right-click on “Create a Text file” and “Assign Macro..”

Step 3: Select MacroToCreateTextFile

Step 4: Save your excel file as “Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook”  *.xlsm

Step 5: Click “Create Text file”

In this article I will explain how you can create a text file and how write data to a text file in overwrite and append modes. 

You can download the file and code related to this article here.

Create a text file using the file system object:

You can create a text file using the file system object using the code below.

Sub CreateTextFile()
    Dim fs As Object
    Dim stream As Object

    Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    On Error GoTo fileexists
        Set stream = fs.CreateTextFile("e:TextFile.txt", False, True)

fileexists:
        If Err.Number = 58 Then
            MsgBox "File already Exists"
		 'Your code here
        Else
            stream.Write ("No new line character inserted")
            stream.WriteLine ("This will take the cursor to next line.")
            stream.Close
        End If
    On Error GoTo 0
End Sub
The CreateTextFile  function takes 3 arguments.

First is the name of the file along with the complete path
Overwrite – Second (optional) argument indicates if an existing file can be overwritten. The value is True if the file can be overwritten; False if it can’t be overwritten. Default is false
Unicode – Third (optional) argument indicates whether the file is created as a Unicode or ASCII file. The value is True if the file is created as a Unicode file; False if it’s created as an ASCII file. Default is ASCII.

As we have specified overwritten as false, an error will be thrown if the file already exists (Error number 58). So, we are using error handling to check for this condition.
We can use the Write and WriteLine function to write to the file. As you can guess, the WriteLine function will take the cursor to the next line, while the Write function will not. –

Example 1, Write One Line of Data to Text File:
The example below creates a text file at the location “D:Temp” under the name “Test.txt” and writes the value in cell A1 in the first line of the text file:



  


                       
  




Sub Example1()
Open "D:TempTest.txt" For Output As #1
Write #1, Cells(1, 1)
Close #1
End Sub

The first line checks if the file “D:TempTest.txt” exists. If it doesn’t it will create a file named “Test.txt” at the location ” D:Temp”. If it does exist it will overwrite the file.
Open "D:TempTest.txt" For Output As #1
In our example the file does not exist, therefore a new file is created:

It has 3 parts:
“D:TempTest.txt”: Specifies the full path of the file.
Output: Specifies that this file is for writing to. This is opposed to the value Input used in the article Excel VBA, Reading Text Files
#1: This could be any number between #1 and #511. Whatever number is chosen here should be used in the rest of the program to reference this file.
The next line prints the data in cell A1 to the first line of the text file:



  


                       
  




Write #1, Cells(1, 1)
The content of cell A1 can be seen below:

The last line of code closes the file that has the reference #1:
Close #1
Had we chosen another number when opening the file, we would have had to choose the same number here when closing it. For example lets say we decide to user the number #4. We would have to user the #4 throughout the code:
Sub Example1()
Open "D:TempTest.txt" For Output As #4
Write #4, Cells(1, 1);
Close #4
End Sub
End Sub

The code above will yield the same result as our original code.
Always remember to close the file at the end of your code. Closing the file does the following:

Saves the data written to the file.
Allows other programs to modify the file.
If the file is not closed, you will not be able to reopen it using another number index.

Final Result:



  


                       
  





–

Example 2, Write Multiple Lines of Data to Text File:
The example below creates a text file at the location “D:Temp” under the name “Test.txt” and writes all the data in column A to it:
Sub Example2()
Dim flag As Boolean
Dim i As Integer
'open the file for writing
Open "D:TempTest.txt" For Output As #4
flag = True
i = 1
'keeps going until the end of the file is reacheed
While flag = True
    'check if the current cell has data in it
    If Cells(i, 1) <> "" Then
        'write the data to the file
        Write #4, Cells(i, 1)
        'go to next cell
        i = i + 1
    Else
        'if the last row has been reached exit the loop
        flag = False
    End If
Wend
'close the file
Close #4
End Sub

The following data was written in column A:

Result:

–

Example 3, Save File Dialog:
In the example below the user will initially be asked to choose the location for the output text file using a save file dialog. A text file will then be created and the data in column A will be printed to the text file. For more information about save file dialogs please see the following links:



  


                       
  





VBA Save File Dialog, FileDialog(msoFileDialogSaveAs)
Excel VBA, Save File Dialog, GetSaveAsFilename

Sub Example3()
Dim flag As Boolean
Dim i As Integer
Dim strPath As String
strPath = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(FileFilter:= _
"Text Files (*.txt), *.txt", Title:="Save Location")
If strPath <> "False" Then
    'open the file for writing
    Open strPath For Output As #4

       flag = True
    i = 1
       'keeps going until the end of the file is reacheed
    While flag = True
        'check if the current cell has data in it
        If Cells(i, 1) <> "" Then
        'write the data to the file
           Write #4, Cells(i, 1)
           'go to next cell
           i = i + 1
        Else
           'if the last row has been reached exit the loop
            flag = False
        End If
    Wend
    'close the file
    Close #4
End If
End Sub

The highlighted code creates a save file dialog and asks the user to select a location to save the file:

The final result is similar to the previous examples.
Sub Example4()
Dim flag As Boolean
Dim i As Integer
Dim strPath As String
On Error GoTo lblError:
strPath = Application.GetSaveAsFilename(FileFilter:= _
"Text Files (*.txt), *.txt", Title:="Save Location")
If strPath <> "False" Then
    'open the file for writing
    Open strPath     For Output As #4
    flag = True
    i = 1
    'keeps going until the end of the file is reached
    While flag = True
        'check if the current cell has data in it
        If Cells(i, 1) <> "" Then
           'write the data to the file
           Write #4, Cells(i, 1)
           'go to next cell
           i = i + 1
        Else
           'if the last row has been reached exit the loop
           flag = False
        End If
    Wend
    'close the file
    Close #4
End If
Exit Sub
lblError:
Err.Clear

End Sub




  


                       
  




Example 5, Use print function in append mode:
The examples covered so far rewrite the existing file. Now let us look at how to open a file in append mode. Here we will be using the print function to write to the file. The difference being, the text will not be inserted within double quotes.
Sub AppendFile()
    Dim strFile_Path As String
    Dim rangeToWrite As range

    strFile_Path = "e:TextFile.txt"

On Error GoTo cleanup
    Open strFile_Path For Append As #1

    Set rangeToWrite = range("A1:A10")

    For Each cell In rangeToWrite
        Print #1, cell.Value
    Next cell

    Close #1 

Cleanup:
    Close #1 

End Sub 
“Open file for Append” will first check if the file exists. If the file does not exist, a new one will be created. Else, the file will be opened in append mode.
We use the Print function to write the text from the Excel file to the text file. We have selected a single to column from Excel. You can easily modify the range to include multiple columns.
This is how the Excel and the text files look after executing the code.




  


                       
  




If you run the code again, the text file will look like this:

You can download the file and code related to this article here.
See also:



  


                       
  





Excel VBA, Reading Text Files
VBA, Modify Existing Text File
VBA Save File Dialog, FileDialog(msoFileDialogSaveAs)
Excel VBA, Save File Dialog, GetSaveAsFilename
VBA, Check if Text File is Open
VBA Append Data to Text File

If you need assistance with your code, or you are looking for a VBA programmer to hire feel free to contact me. Also please visit my website  www.software-solutions-online.com