Removing extra spaces from a column of cells

How do I remove the extra spaces from an entire column? I am trying to
compare Column B to Column A for differences, and having those differences
extracted to Column C. However, because there are extra spaces in some of
the cells within each column, it is returning a FALSE statement. Does anyone
have any idea how to get rid of these spaces so that my comparison can be
completely accurate?
Thank you so much!!

By the way, my data contains both Alpha and numeric: For example: AAL16,
BCA45, etc.......

"Sandie" wrote:

How do I remove the extra spaces from an entire column? I am trying to
compare Column B to Column A for differences, and having those differences
extracted to Column C. However, because there are extra spaces in some of
the cells within each column, it is returning a FALSE statement. Does anyone
have any idea how to get rid of these spaces so that my comparison can be
completely accurate?
Thank you so much!!

Hi
see:
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/join.htm#trimall

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Regards
Frank Kabel
Frankfurt, Germany


Sandie wrote:
How do I remove the extra spaces from an entire column? I am trying
to compare Column B to Column A for differences, and having those
differences extracted to Column C. However, because there are extra
spaces in some of the cells within each column, it is returning a
FALSE statement. Does anyone have any idea how to get rid of these
spaces so that my comparison can be completely accurate?
Thank you so much!!

The TRIM function removes all spaces except one space between words. It
sounds like that is the one you're looking for.

Maybe you could make two helper columns, in D and E. In D1 put
=TRIM(A1) and in E1 put =TRIM(B1). Copy both D1 and E1 down as far as
you need to go. Then compare the values in Col D against the values in
Col E.


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