Format text in excel vba

This tutorial will demonstrate how to use the Text Function in VBA.

The Text function is used in an Excel worksheet to return a portion of a string in a specified format. The Text function is not a VBA function, but can be used in VBA by referring to the Worksheet Function object.

WorksheetFunction.Text

The syntax in VBA would therefore be as follows:

=WorksheetFunction.Text (Arg1, Arg2)

where Arg1 is the original string and Arg2 is the format of the string we want returned.

Sub TestWSFunction()
  Dim dte As String
  Dim strD As String
  dte = "08/05/2021"
  strD= WorksheetFunction.Text(dte, "mmmm")
  MsgBox strD 
End Sub

In the above example, the string variable dte is storing a date.  The Text function then returns the month portion of the date.

Formatting Numbers with the Text Function

We can use the text function to format numbers in our VBA code.

Sub FormatCurrency()
  Dim strNum As String
  Dim strFormat As String
  strNum = "75896.125"
  strFormat = WorksheetFunction.Text(strNum, "$#,##0.00")
  MsgBox strFormat
End Sub

The string returned in the above example would be $75,896.13.

Other examples of number formatting using the Text Function are:

=WorksheetFunction.Text(75896.125, "0")
this will return: "75896"

=WorksheetFunction.Text(75896.125, "0.0")
this will return: "75896.1"

=WorksheetFunction.Text(75896.125, "#,##0")
this will return: "75,896"

However, Excel does have a built in VBA function that we can use instead of the Text function if we wish to format dates and numbers within VBA. This is known as the Format function.

The VBA Format Function

Taking the example above, rather than using WorksheetFunction.Text, we can just use the Format Function to achieve the same results.

=Format(75896.125, "0")
 this will return: "75896" 

=Format(75896.125, "0.0") 
this will return: "75896.1" 

=Format(75896.125, "#,##0") 
this will return: "75,896"

Similarly, we  can use the Format Function to format date portions of a string.

Sub TestFormatFunction() 
Dim dte As String 
Dim strD As String
 dte = "08/05/2021" 
 strD= Format(dte, "mmmm") 
 MsgBox strD 
End Sub

VBA Format Function in Excel

VBA Format function in Excel is categorized as a Text/String function in VBA. It is a built-in function in MS Office Excel. VBA Format function returns a formatted string from a string expression. This function has one required parameter and three optional parameters. If Format argument is left blank, then the function behaves like the CSTR function.

This function use as a VBA function and can’t use as a Excel Worksheet function. The VBA Format function can be used in either procedure or function in a VBA editor window in Excel. We can use this VBA Format function any number of times in any number of procedures or functions. In the following section we learn what is the syntax and parameters of the Format function, where we can use this Format function and real-time examples in VBA.

Syntax of VBA Format Function

The syntax of the VBA Format function is

Note: This Format function returns a string.

Parameters or Arguments

This function has one mandatory parameter and three optional parameters for the Format Function.
Where
Expression: The Expression is a mandatory argument. It represents an expression which you want to format.

Format: The Format is an optional argument. It represents the user defined or below specified built-in format. It is applied to an Expression.

VBA Date Formats: Here are the following list of built-in Date formats.

VBA Number Formats: Here are the following list of built-in Number formats.

VBA Text Formats: Here are the following list of Text and Memo formats.

FirstDayOfWeek: The FirstDayOfWeek is an optional argument. It represents the first day of week. This argument uses the default value vbSunday (Sunday).

FirstWeekOfYear: The FirstWeekOfYear is an optional argument. It represents the first week of the year. This argument uses the default value vbFirstJan1 (1st January).

Where we can apply or use the VBA Format Function?

We can use this VBA Format function in MS Office 365, MS Excel 2016, MS Excel 2013, 2011, Excel 2010, Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel 2016 for Mac, Excel 2011 for Mac, Excel Online, Excel for iPhone, Excel for iPad, Excel for Android tablets and Excel for Android Mobiles.

Example 1: Format Date and Time

Here is a simple example of the VBA Format function. Here you can see multiple examples of VBA Date and Time Format function.

Output : Here is the screen shot of the first example output.

Example 2: Format Numbers and Currency

Here is a simple example of the VBA Format function. Here you can see multiple examples of VBA Number and Currency Format function.

Output : Here is the screen shot of the second example output.

Example 3: Format Text/String

Here is a simple example of the VBA Format function. Here you can see multiple examples of VBA Text/String Format function.

Output : Here is the screen shot of the third example output.

Example 4: User Defined Format

Here is a simple example of the VBA Format function. Here you can see multiple examples of VBA User Defined Format function.

Output : Here is the screen shot of the fourth example output.

Instructions to Run VBA Macro Code or Procedure:

You can refer the following link for the step by step instructions.

Other Useful Resources:

Click on the following links of the useful resources. These helps to learn and gain more knowledge.

Источник

Format function

Returns a Variant (String) containing an expression formatted according to instructions contained in a format expression.

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Syntax

Format(Expression, [ Format ], [ FirstDayOfWeek ], [ FirstWeekOfYear ])

The Format function syntax has these parts.

Settings

The firstdayofweek argument has these settings.

The firstweekofyear argument has these settings.

Format truncates format to 257 characters.

If you try to format a number without specifying format, Format provides functionality similar to the Str function, although it is internationally aware. However, positive numbers formatted as strings using Format don’t include a leading space reserved for the sign of the value; those converted using Str retain the leading space.

If you are formatting a non-localized numeric string, you should use a user-defined numeric format to ensure that you get the look you want.

If the Calendar property setting is Gregorian and format specifies date formatting, the supplied expression must be Gregorian . If the Visual Basic Calendar property setting is Hijri , the supplied expression must be Hijri .

If the calendar is Gregorian, the meaning of format expression symbols is unchanged. If the calendar is Hijri, all date format symbols (for example, dddd, mmmm, yyyy ) have the same meaning but apply to the Hijri calendar. Format symbols remain in English; symbols that result in text display (for example, AM and PM) display the string (English or Arabic) associated with that symbol. The range of certain symbols changes when the calendar is Hijri.

Date symbols

Time symbols

Example

This example shows various uses of the Format function to format values using both named formats and user-defined formats. For the date separator (/), time separator (:), and AM/ PM literal, the actual formatted output displayed by your system depends on the locale settings on which the code is running. When times and dates are displayed in the development environment, the short time format and short date format of the code locale are used. When displayed by running code, the short time format and short date format of the system locale are used, which may differ from the code locale. For this example, English/U.S. is assumed. MyTime and MyDate are displayed in the development environment using current system short time setting and short date setting.

Different formats for different numeric values

A user-defined format expression for numbers can have from one to four sections separated by semicolons. If the format argument contains one of the named numeric formats, only one section is allowed.

If you include semicolons with nothing between them, the missing section is printed using the format of the positive value. For example, the following format displays positive and negative values using the format in the first section and displays «Zero» if the value is zero.

Different formats for different string values

A format expression for strings can have one section or two sections separated by a semicolon (;).

Named date/time formats

The following table identifies the predefined date and time format names.

Named numeric formats

The following table identifies the predefined numeric format names.

User-defined string formats

Use any of the following characters to create a format expression for strings.

User-defined date/time formats

The following table identifies characters you can use to create user-defined date/time formats.

User-defined numeric formats

The following table identifies characters you can use to create user-defined number formats.

See also

Support and feedback

Have questions or feedback about Office VBA or this documentation? Please see Office VBA support and feedback for guidance about the ways you can receive support and provide feedback.

Источник

Excel VBA Format Function

Format function in VBA one may use to format the given values in the desired format. For example, one can use this function for formatting dates or numbers or any trigonometric values. This function has two mandatory arguments: input taken in the form of a string, and the second argument is the type of format we want to use. For example, if we use Format (.99,” Percent”) this will give us the result as 99%.

In VBA, we need to use the function “FORMAT” to apply the format to cells. Excel formattingFormatting is a useful feature in Excel that allows you to change the appearance of the data in a worksheet. Formatting can be done in a variety of ways. For example, we can use the styles and format tab on the home tab to change the font of a cell or a table.read more is one of the important concepts to master. We all use the common formatting techniques in our daily work: date, time, number, and other important formatting codes. We press the format excel cellFormatting cells is an important technique to master because it makes any data presentable, crisp, and in the user’s preferred format. The formatting of the cell depends upon the nature of the data present.read more option in regular Excel worksheets and perform the formatting duty by applying the appropriate formatting code. However, in VBA, this is not as straightforward as our worksheet technique.

Syntax

• Expression: This is nothing but the value we want to format. In VAB technicality, it is called Expression.
• [Format]: What format do you want to apply to the selected expression? We have two kinds of formatting here: user-defined format and built-in format.
• Here, we have VBA date, number, and text formats.
• VBA date formats have a short date, long date, medium date, and general date.
• Number formats have currency, standard, percentage, scientific, yes or no, true or false, and on or off.
• [First Day of the Week]: What is the first day of your week? We can select any day from the list. Below is the list of days and appropriate codes.

• [First Week of the Year]: What is the year’s first week? It specifies the week it should use as the year’s first week.

How to Use?

You can download this VBA Format Template here – VBA Format Template

Let us apply this function practically to understand the functionality of the FORMAT function. Assume you have the number 8072.56489. You want to apply number formatting to it. Follow the below steps to apply number formatting to it.

Step 1: Start an excel macroA macro in excel is a series of instructions in the form of code that helps automate manual tasks, thereby saving time. Excel executes those instructions in a step-by-step manner on the given data. For example, it can be used to automate repetitive tasks such as summation, cell formatting, information copying, etc. thereby rapidly replacing repetitious operations with a few clicks.
read more and define the variable as a “string” data type.

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example1()

  Dim K As String

End Sub

Step 2: Assign a value to k as our number, 8072.56489.

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example1()
  Dim K As String

  K = 8072.56489

End Sub

Step 3: Show the “k” value in the VBA message boxVBA MsgBox function is an output function which displays the generalized message provided by the developer. This statement has no arguments and the personalized messages in this function are written under the double quotes while for the values the variable reference is provided.read more.

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example1()
  Dim K As String

  K = 8072.56489
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Step 4: If you run this macro, we will get the below result.

The result is as it is, we assigned the value to variable “k.” But we need to apply some formatting to this number to make it beautiful.

Step 5: Instead of directly assigning a value to “k,“ let us use the FORMAT function.

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example1()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format(
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Step 6: Now, for Expression, assign the number 8072.56489.

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example1()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format(8072.56489,
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Step 7: We can use a built-in format or our own formatting code in the formatting option. Now, we will use a built-in formatting style as “Standard.”

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example1()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format(8072.56489, "Standard")
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Step 8: Now, run this code and see the result of the message box.

We have comma (,) as thousand separators and decimal rounds up to two digits only.

Like this, we can use many other built-in formatting styles to apply the formatting. Below are some of the codes we have applied.

#1 – Currency Format

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example2()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format(8072.56489, "Currency")
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Result:

#2 – Fixed Format

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example3()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format(8072.56489, "Fixed")
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Result:

#3 – Percent Format

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example4()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format(8072.56489, "Percent")
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Result:

#4 – User-Defined Formats

Now, we will see some of the user-defined formats.

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example5()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format(8072.56489, "#.##")
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Result:

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example5()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format(8072.56489, "#,##.##")
  MsgBox K

End Sub

Result:

#5 – Date FORMAT

We have seen some important numbers of formatting techniques. We will have to use the FORMAT function to format the date in VBA.To format the date in VBA, we use the in-built FORMAT function that converts a date expression into the required format. In order to perform the function, one must enter a valid expression and format type.read more

We have written code to show the result of the date through the variable.

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example6()
  Dim K As String

  K = 13 - 3 - 2019
  MsgBox K

End Sub

When we run this code, we would not get an accurate date. Rather, the result is pathetic.

We need to assign the date format to get accurate dates. So, we first need to supply the date in double quotes and apply the date format.

Code:

Sub Worksheet_Function_Example6()
  Dim K As String

  K = Format("10 - 3 - 2019", "Long Date")
  MsgBox K

End Sub

We run this code now. We will get a proper long date.

The “Long Date” is a built-in format. Similarly, you can use the “Short Date” and “Medium Date” options.

Things to Remember

• The value returned by the FORMAT function is the string.
• We can also use our date, time, and number formatting codes, like how we use them in worksheet formatting.
• The FORMAT is a VBA functionVBA functions serve the primary purpose to carry out specific calculations and to return a value. Therefore, in VBA, we use syntax to specify the parameters and data type while defining the function. Such functions are called user-defined functions.read more available only in VBA, not in the worksheet.

Recommended Articles

This article has been a guide to VBA Format Function. Here, we learned how to use VBA Format Function for currency, fixed, percentage, and date formatting, along with some practical examples and a downloadable Excel template. Below are some useful Excel articles related to VBA: –

• VBA Data Type
• VBA DIR Function
• VBA MOD
• Create VBA InputBox