Vba read excel line by line

@learnerjane 

I realise this is not an answer to the OP but, since @Hans Vogelaar has written a significant block of VBA, I set out to see whether a similar result could be obtained using worksheet formulae.  The worst limitation is that most Lambda functions do not work correctly with ‘nested arrays’ which is something of a pain when the whole purpose of the calculation is to create an array of arrays.  Nevertheless, in this case

CountByTypeλ = LAMBDA(aLines,
    LET(
        type,     MAP(aLines,IdentifyTypeλ),
        filtered, FILTER(type, ISTEXT(type)),
        distinct, UNIQUE(filtered),
        count,    MAP(distinct, LAMBDA(type, COUNT(IF(filtered = type, 1)))),
        HSTACK(distinct, count)
    )
);

IdentifyTypeλ = LAMBDA(aLine,
    LET(
        split, IFERROR(TEXTSPLIT(aLine, "|"), "HEAD"),
        IF(INDEX(split, 1, 1) <> "HEAD", INDEX(split, 1, 2))
    )
);

My thought on this are, whilst Lambda functions to not replace either VBA or DAX, they are capable of making significant inroads for problems of modest dimension.

Note: the formula requires the text file to be imported to Excel which is not what was requested.  Power query would probably be my tool of choice for the data import.

You can VBA Read file binary or text data using a couple of different approaches in Excel. VBA provides you a set of native statements like Open to open and ready files. However in this article aside from showing you these native approaches to reading files using Excel Macros you can read CSV files and other structured data schemas using Jet.OLEDB driver, Microsoft Queries or also the FileSystemObject.

Text/binary files are common ways of storing data as opposed to databases or regular Excel files. Looking at various resources I missed a single resource which would demonstrate the various methods for PROPERLY reading files in VBA.

It is important to remember that you shouldn’t read all files using the same approach. Be aware of the structure of the file. If it is a structured CSV use the ADODB connection, if you need to read only a couple of rows read the file row by row or by chunks, else read the whole file. If you want performance – always select the right approach.

Reading text files in VBA

VBA Read text files (line by line)

To read an entire text file line by line use the code below.

Dim fileName As String, textData As String, textRow As String, fileNo As Integer
fileName = "C:text.txt"
fileNo = FreeFile 'Get first free file number  
    
Open fileName For Input As #fileNo
Do While Not EOF(fileNo)
   Line Input #fileNo, textRow
   textData = textData & textRow
Loop
Close #fileNo

VBA Read text files (read whole file)

To read an entire text file in one go (not line by line) use the code below.a

Dim fileName As String, textData As String, fileNo As Integer
fileName = "C:text.txt"
fileNo = FreeFile 'Get first free file number   
 
Open fileName For Input As #fileNo
textData = Input$(LOF(fileNo), fileNo)
Close #fileNo

VBA Read specific number of lines from a text file

In cases when you want to read specific lines from a text file you can adapt the line by line read code as below. It allows you to read a certain number of lines (noLines) from a text file from a specific start line number (sLine). If you set noLines to 0 it will read all lines till end of the file.

Dim fileName As String, textData As String, textRow As String, fileNo As Integer
Dim lineCounter as Long, sLine as Long, noLines as Long

fileName = "C:text.txt"

sLine = 20 'number of the first line you want to read
noLines = 100 'number of lines you want to read

fileNo = FreeFile 
Open fileName For Input As #fileNo
Do While Not EOF(fileNo)
  Line Input #fileNo, textRow
  If lineCount >= sLine and ((noLines > 0 and lineCount < noLines + sLine) or noLines = 0) then
    textData = textData &amp; textRow
  End If
  lineCount = lineCount + 1   
Loop
Close #fileNo

Reading CSV files in VBA

Reading CSV files (read whole file and process each row)

Reading a text file line by line into a string:

'Assuming file looks like this. File path: C:test.csv
'"Col1", "Col2", "Col3"
'1     , 2     , 3

directory = "C:"
fileName = "test.csv" 'Assuming test.csv is in C: directory
Set rs = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")
strcon = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" & directory & ";" _
& "Extended Properties=""text;HDR=Yes;FMT=Delimited"";"
strSQL = "SELECT * FROM " & fileName 
rs.Open strSQL, strcon, 3, 3
rs.MoveFirst
Do
   col1 = rs("Col1")
   col2 = rs("Col2")
   col3 = rs("Col3")
   rs.MoveNext
Loop Until rs.EOF

Reading CSV files (whole file to Worksheet)

Read whole file to an Excel Worksheet:

Dim ws as Worksheet, destRng as Range, fileName as String
fileName = "C:text.txt"
Set destRng = Range("A1")
Set ws = ActiveSheet
With ws.QueryTables.Add(Connection:= "TEXT;" & fileName & "", Destination:=destRng)
    .FieldNames = True
    .RowNumbers = False
    .FillAdjacentFormulas = False
    .PreserveFormatting = True
    .RefreshOnFileOpen = False
    .RefreshStyle = xlInsertDeleteCells
    .SaveData = True
    .AdjustColumnWidth = True
    .RefreshPeriod = 0
    .TextFilePromptOnRefresh = False
    .TextFilePlatform = 852
    .TextFileStartRow = 1
    .TextFileParseType = xlDelimited
    .TextFileTextQualifier = xlTextQualifierDoubleQuote
    'Select your delimiter - selected below for Comma
    .TextFileConsecutiveDelimiter = False
    .TextFileTabDelimiter = False
    .TextFileSemicolonDelimiter = False
    .TextFileCommaDelimiter = True
    .TextFileSpaceDelimiter = False
    .TextFileTrailingMinusNumbers = True
    'This will refresh the query
End With

To refresh the CSV upload (in case the CSV was updated) simply run:

  
ws.QueryTables.Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False

Reading binary files in VBA

Dim fileName As String, fileNo As Integer, intVar As Integer
fileName = "C:text.bin"
fileNo = FreeFile

Open fileName For Binary Lock Read As #fileNo
Get #fileNo, , intVar
Close #fileNo

With Binary files often you will be using objects which are not of fixed byte length like Integers. For example you would want to read Strings from binary files together with other data types. In such cases use the Type object data type when writing to a file. Learn more here.
Below a simple example of reading a file to which a Type data type was saved to, including an Integer and String.

Type TestType
    intVar As Integer
    strVar As String
End Type

Sub ReadBinary()
    Dim fileName As String, fileNo As Integer, testVar As TestType
    fileName = "C:test.bin"

    fileNo = FreeFile
    Open fileName For Binary Lock Read As #fileNo
    Get #fileNo, , testVar
    Debug.Print testVar.intVar 'Print the Integer
    Debug.Print testVar.strVar 'Print the String
    Close #fileNo
End Sub

Reading XML files in VBA

XML files are basically text files which follow the XML taxonomy. You can try to read and process XML files similarly as text files shown above. However, given you will probably want to extract specific XML tag or attribute information I suggest reading my dedicated article below.

Functions needed to read files in VBA

Above functions allow native upload of file data. However for more complicated scenario you will probably go for the FileSystemObject.

VBA Read File Summary

Reading files in VBA is not hard and requires just a few lines of code usually. It is, however, important to use the appropriate approach to read a file in VBA. Not all files need to be read line-by-line which is usually inefficient. Equally so you need not always read the entire file if you just need the first few / last rows. Working with XML files is also not a challenge if you read through my post on how to work with XML files.

Want to Write to files instead?

If you are looking to write to files instead using VBA, read my article on how to write to files using VBA.

VBA Program to read a Text file line by line (Sales Data) and places on a worksheet. 

Sales Data in Text File: 5 Fields [ Product, Qtr 1, Qtr 2, Qtr 3 and Qtr 4 ] and 25 Records (Incl. header)

VBA code will read a text file and places on worksheet cells as below

VBA Code:

• Declaring variables:

    'Variable declarations
    Dim line As String, Filename As String, i As Integer, valuesArr() As String

• Initialize “Filename” variable with full path and filename

    'Text file fullPath
    Filename = "D:ExcelReadTextFilesales.txt" 'update your full file path
    i = 1

• Open input file to read text 

    'Open file
    Open Filename For Input As #2

• Read input file line by line

    'Read line by line - text file
    While Not EOF(2)
        Line Input #2, line

• Split by comma and store it in valueArr().  In our example, each line has 5 values concatenated with comma.

        'split the line by comma separated, assigned in an array
        valuesArr() = Split(line, ",")

• Add text to respective cells from valuesArr().  Read each item in an array by it’s index value

        Cells(i, "A").Value = valuesArr(0)
        Cells(i, "B").Value = valuesArr(1)
        Cells(i, "C").Value = valuesArr(2)
        Cells(i, "D").Value = valuesArr(3)
        Cells(i, "E").Value = valuesArr(4)

• Increment counter i, to move next line.

        i = i + 1

• Close while loop

    Wend

• Close file

'Close file
Close #2

Approach:

Step 1: Open Excel.

Step 2: Add a shape (Read Text File) to your worksheet  .

Step 3: Right-click on “Read Text file” and “Assign Macro..”

Step 4: Select ReadTextFileLineByLine Macro

Step 5: Save your excel file as “Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook”  *.xlsm

Step 6: Click “Read Text file” 

Step 7: Adjust column width in your excel file.

How do I read a file line by line in VBA?

Reading a file line by line Open VBA Edit (Alt + F11) and insert the following code. First, a new file is created from a path and the FreeFile function. The while loop reads a line inside the file. It uses the Line Input statement to insert this line into a variable and then places it inside a worksheet.

How do I read a file in VBA?

Read Data from Text File

1. First, download the text file and add it to “C:test”
2. We declare four variables.
3. We need to initialize the variable myFile with the full path and the filename.
4. Add the following code line:
5. Add the following code lines:
6. Close the file.

How do I set the path of a file in VBA?

VBA Blog: File Path Selector

1. Sub SelectFile()
2. Dim DialogBox As FileDialog.
3. Dim path As String.
4. Set DialogBox = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker) DialogBox.Title = “Select file for ” & FileType.
5. If DialogBox.SelectedItems.Count = 1 Then. path = DialogBox.SelectedItems(1)
6. End If.
7. End Sub.

What is VBA path?

The Path property in Excel VBA returns the complete, saved path to the workbook (Excel file). The FullName property in Excel VBA returns the complete, saved path, including the name of the workbook. The following code line returns the complete path, including the name of the active workbook.

How do you create a text file in VBA?

VBA Blog: Create text file from Excel table

1. Dim filename As String, lineText As String.
2. filename = ThisWorkbook.path & “” & Worksheets(“Product Table”).Name & “.txt”
3. Open filename For Output As #1.
4. Set myrng = Range(“Table1”)
5. For i = 1 To myrng.Rows.Count + 1.

How do you add a path in VBA?

Next we step into VBA:

1. Sub SelectFile()
2. Dim DialogBox As FileDialog.
3. Dim path As String.
4. Set DialogBox = Application.FileDialog(msoFileDialogFilePicker) DialogBox.Title = “Select file for ” & FileType.
5. If DialogBox.SelectedItems.Count = 1 Then. path = DialogBox.SelectedItems(1)
6. End If.
7. End Sub.

How to get the path of a file in VBA?

FileDialog is the object which is used for windows file explorer. There are 4 different types of dialogs which you can choose as shown below. Here we need to get the path of a file then we will use dialog type as msoFileDialogFilePicker. File Dialog in VBA.

How does VBA read data from text file?

Note: until the end of the file (EOF), Excel VBA reads a single line from the file and assigns it to textline. We use the & operator to concatenate (join) all the single lines and store it in the variable text.

How to find the path of a workbook in Excel?

Excel.ActiveWorkbook.Path only works if the file has been saved at least once. Also, if the file has never been saved, Excel.ActiveWorkbook.FullName only returns the file name. Might be a good idea to check if the workbook has ever been saved.

How to loop through a folder in VBA?

VBA code to loop through files in a folder (and sub folders) Listing filenames in a worksheet, printing all the files to PDF, or making changes to every file in a folder, there are many reasons why we may want to loop through each file in a folder. VBA provides us with a few ways to achieve it (1) Dir function (2) File System Object.

What are the ways to fetching the data from worksheet to VBA?

Extract Data from one Excel Worksheet to another using Advanced Filter with VBA

1. Enter data in Sheet1.
2. Create a criteria range.
3. Copy the required headers from Sheet1 where your data is entered to another worksheet, let’s say Sheet2.
4. Click away from the headers in Sheet2.
5. Click on the Data tab.

Can Excel reference another File?

You can refer to the contents of cells in another workbook by creating an external reference formula. An external reference (also called a link) is a reference to a cell or range on a worksheet in another Excel workbook, or a reference to a defined name in another workbook.

How do I change the format of an Excel File without opening it?

You will have to open the calculation file, but you can do this without the user seeing it open (by putting Application. ScreenUpdating = False and application. displayalerts=false) you then do the changes and then close it and save it through the macro.

How do I read the last line of a text file in VB NET?

vb.net Code:

1. Dim lastLine As String = Nothing.
2. Using sr As New IO. StreamReader(“file path here”)
3. Do Until sr. EndOfStream.
4. lastLine = sr. ReadLine()
5. Loop.
6. End Using.

How to read a file line by line in Excel?

Dim FileNum As Integer Dim DataLine As String FileNum = FreeFile () Open “Filename” For Input As #FileNum While Not EOF (FileNum) Line Input #FileNum, DataLine ‘ read in data 1 line at a time ‘ decide what to do with dataline, ‘ depending on what processing you need to do for each case Wend

What does a text file look like in VBA?

For example, the text file would look like: I want the VBA to load 1 line at a time, and if it starts with a * then move to the next line (similar to that line being commented). For the lines with a file path, I want to write that path to cell, say A2 for the first path, B2 for the next, etc.

How to parse a text file using VBA?

I’m trying to parse a text document using VBA and return the path given in the text file. For example, the text file would look like: I want the VBA to load 1 line at a time, and if it starts with a * then move to the next line (similar to that line being commented).

How to read CSV file line by line?

‘Loop thorugh every element in the array and print to Excelfile For Each element In arrayOfElements Cells (ImportToRow, StartColumn).Value = element StartColumn = StartColumn + 1 Next Loop Close #1 ‘ Close file. End Sub Can anybody explain why it doesn’t work?