Last week over at the Chandoo.org Forums, Birko asked a question about How to Import some Numbers as Times.
“I have imported some data that comes in as a number that I need to convert to h:mm. The data string will be either 1,3,4,5,6 integers long and looks like this…eg
Imported Need to equal this
Number h:mm
0 0:00
100 0:01
1000 0:10
10900 1:09
235900 23:59
Can someone please provide a smart formula to convert this (assume data is in cell A1).”
Today in Formula Forensics we will look at how this problem was solved, and the solution which may surprise you.
Importing Numbers as Times.
When I first saw this data I start by looking at patterns.
Working backwards through the list
I can see that 235900 is 23 Hrs, 59 Min and 0 second
I can see that 10900 is 1 Hr, 9 Min and 0 second
I can see that 1000 is 0 Hrs, 10 Min and 0 second
I can see that 100 is 0 Hr, 1 Min and 0 second
I can see that 0 is 0 Hr, 0 Min and 0 second
I then start to think about how to extract the Hours, Minutes and seconds independently from the Text using a series of Left, Right and Mid functions, and quickly realised that due to the varying lengths of the strings, That they will end up being complex formulas as I will need to allow for each string length.
What if I pad the strings with leading 0’s and then extract them.
That is possible, but as a single formula it will be long and cumbersome as the padding has to occur a number of times for each Hour, Minute and Second as part of the Time() function.
So padding may work but is cumbersome, then a bright light moment
What about I use the Text function to do the padding.
And I quickly posted the following formula:
=(LEFT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/24)+(MID(TEXT(A1,"000000"),3,2)/1440)+(RIGHT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/(24*3600))As Time is just a number between 0 = midnight and 0.999999 = 11:59:59 pm, I can extract the Hours, Minutes and seconds separately and then simply add them together to get the actual time
I Can use the Text function to display the Strings in a consistent format that allows me to use the Left, Mid and Right functions to retrieve the Hours minutes and Seconds from the appropriate places.
Lets work through this formula section by section and see what is going on.
Hours
The Hours component of the formula is
=(LEFT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/24)+(MID(TEXT(A1,"000000"),3,2)/1440)+(RIGHT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/(24*3600))
=(LEFT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/24)
Working from the middle out, this formula takes the value in A1 and displays it as a Number with the format “000000”
So using our data
235900 will convert to 235900
10900 will convert to 010900
1000 will convert to 001000
We can now use a Left() function to extract the hours from the first 2 characters of the converted string
Using our examples:
Left(235900,2) = 23
Left(010900,2) = 01
Left(001000,2) = 00
To convert hours to a Time we simply divide by 24
Minutes
The Minutes component of the formula is
=(LEFT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/24)+(MID(TEXT(A1,"000000"),3,2)/1440)+(RIGHT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/(24*3600))
=MID(TEXT(A1,"000000"),3,2)/1440
Once again, Working from the middle out, this formula takes the value in A1 and displays it as a Number with the format “000000”
So using our data
235900 will convert to 235900
10900 will convert to 010900
1000 will convert to 001000
We can now use a Mid() function to extract the minutes from the middle 2 characters of the converted string
Mid(235900,3,2) = 59
Mid(010900,2) = 09
Mid(001000,2) = 10
To convert Minutes to a Time we simply divide by 1440 (1440 is how many minutes are in a day = 24 * 60)
Seconds
The Seconds component of the formula is
=(LEFT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/24)+(MID(TEXT(A1,"000000"),3,2)/1440)+(RIGHT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/(24*3600))
=RIGHT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/(24*3600))Once again, Working from the middle out, this formula takes the value in A1 and displays it as a Number with the format “000000”
So using our data
235900 will convert to 235900
10900 will convert to 010900
1000 will convert to 001000
We can now use a Right() function to extract the minutes from the middle 2 characters of the converted string
Right(235900,3,2) = 00
Right(010900,2) = 00
Right(001000,2) = 00
To convert Seconds to a Time we simply divide by 86400 (86,400 is how many seconds are in a day = 24 * 60 * 60)
Total Time
To get the total Time we simply add the Hour, Minutes and Seconds together
=(LEFT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/24)+(MID(TEXT(A1,"000000"),3,2)/1440)+(RIGHT(TEXT(A1,"000000"),2)/(24*3600))
Download
You can download a copy of the above file and follow along, Download Here.
Formula Forensics “The Series”
You can learn more about how to pull Excel Formulas apart in the following posts
Formula Forensics Needs Your Help
I urgently need more ideas for future Formula Forensics posts and so I need your help.
If you have a neat formula that you would like to share and explain, try putting pen to paper and draft up a Post like above or;
If you have a formula that you would like explained but don’t want to write a post also send it to Chandoo or Hui.
21 Responses to “How to Filter Odd or Even Rows only? [Quick Tips]”
Infact, instead of using =ISEVEN(B3), how about to use =ISEVEN(ROW())
So it takes away any chance of wrong referencing.
I like Daily Dose of Excel
I like it.
Just a heads up, you do need to have the Analysis ToolPak add-in activated to use the ISEVEN / ISODD functions. An alternative to ISEVEN would be:
=MOD(ROW(),2)=0
rather than use a formula, couldn't you enter "true" in first cell and "false" in the second and drag it down and than filter on true or false.
Just for clarification, is Ashish looking to filter by even or odd Characters or rows?
so many functions to learn!
Nice support by chandoo and team as a helpdesk. Give us more to learn and make us awesome. Always be helpful.......
In case you want to delete instead of filter,
IF your data is in Sheet1 column A
Put this in Sheet2 column A and drag down
=OFFSET(Sheet1!A$1,(ROWS($1:1)-1)*2,,)
(This is to delete even rows)
To delete odd rows :
=OFFSET(Sheet1!A$2,(ROWS($1:1)-1)*2,,)
If your numbered cells did not correspond to rows, the answer would be even simpler:
=MOD([cell address],2), then filter by 0 to see evens or 1 to see odds.
I sometimes do this using an even simpler method. I add a new column called "Sign" and put the value of 1 in the first row, say cell C2 if C1 contains the header. Then in C3 I put the formula =-1 * C2, which I copy and paste into the rest of the rows (so C4 has =-1 * C3 and so forth). Now I can just apply a filter and pick either +1 or -1 to see half the rows.
Another way, which works if I want three possibilities: in C2 I put the value 1, in C3 I put the value 2, in C4 I put the value 3, then in C5 I put the formula =C2 then I copy C5 and paste into all the remaining rows (so C6 gets =C3, C7 gets =C4, etc.). Now I can apply a filter and pick the value 1, 2, or 3 to see a third of the rows.
Extending this approach to more than 3 cases is left as an exercise for the reader.
Another way =MOD(ROW();2). In this case, must to choose betwen 1 and 0.
[...] How to Filter Even or Odd rows only [...]
very different style Odd or Even Rows very easy way to visit this site
http://www.handycss.com/tips/odd-or-even-rows/
Thanks for the tip, it worked like magic, saved having to delete row by row in my database.
Thanks!
Thankssssssssssssssss
Hi Chandoo- First of all thanks for the trick. It helped me a lot. Here I have one more challenge. Having filtered the data based on odd. I want to paste data in another sheet adjacent to it. How can I do that?
For Example-
A 1 odd
B 3 odd
C 4 even
D 6 even
I have fileted the above data for odd and want to copy the "This is odd number" text in adjacent/next sheet here. How can I do that. After doing this my data should look like this
A 1 odd This is odd number
B 3 odd This is odd number
C 4 even
D 6 even
Hi! Could you please help me find a formula to filter by language?
Thank you!
Chandoo SIR,
I HAVE A DATA IN EXCEL ROWS LIKE BELOW IS THERE ANY FORMULA OR A WAY WHERE I CAN INSTRUCT I CAN MAKE CHANGES , MEANS I WANT TO WRITE ONLY , THE FIG IS FRESH, BUT IN BELOW ROW IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY TAKE THE SOME WORDS FROM FIGS AND MAKE IN PLURAL FORM , WHILE USING '' ARE'' LIKE BELOW
The fig is fresh - row 1
Figs are fresh - row 2
The Pomegranate is red - row 3
Pomegranates are red - row 4
=IF(EVEN(A1)=A1,"EVEN - do something","ODD - do something else") with iferron (for blank Cell)