Yesterday in Formula Forensics 008 we looked at Elkhans MaxIf problem.
However the solution/formula as presented is the final solution to his problem.
Elkhans original worksheet contained other problems and today we will look at this:
I have attached the orginal file as a sample file you can Download Here.
You will see that the MaxIf cell F13 is returning 0, where it should be showing 0.246
Houston, We’ve Had a Problem!
Cell F13 has the same formula we looked at in yesterday’s Formula Forensics: =MAX(IF((Parameter_3=D13)*(Parameter_4=E13),Parameter_5,0))
A quick check of the formula reveals that everything was technically right with the formula, yet the answer is wrong?
To solve this I tried several steps which is the topic of this post:
Examine the logic of the If’s Criteria
The formula =MAX(IF((Parameter_3=D13)*(Parameter_4=E13),Parameter_5,0)) works by calculating the maximum value from the If array.
So step 1 was to look at the logic in the If’s Criteria
That is (Parameter_3=D13)*(Parameter_4=E13)
In cell F15 I entered = (Parameter_3=D13)*(Parameter_4=E13) followed by F9
Excel returns: = {0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0;0}
This tells me that none of the Cells match the criteria, strange?
Yet manually I can see 4 matching records, below:
Check Cell Length
The next quick step was to look at the length of the text in each cell.
In Column I, I added a =Len(E2) and copied down, there was only 2 characters in each cell, this step eliminated leading or trailing spaces.
Retype the Data
Elkham supplied the source data in an Excel file.
But the Criteria was manually typed by me.
So the next step was to retype some of the original data in Cell E2
Wow an Answer, So obviously there was a difference?
What is Wrong Here?
So obviously there was a difference between the C1 in cell E2 and the C1 in cell E13?
I checked this in 3 ways
1. Type the value “C1” into Cell E2, without the quotes
This returned an answer 0.08 from F2 as it should have.
2. Copy an old “C1” value to E13
This resulted in the correct answer of 0.246 in F13
3. Use a quick Formula
Entering a quick formula
In F17 type =E2=E13
Excel returns False
Showing that the value of cell E2 does not match E13
So what is in E2:E12 ?
As I had typed the values into the Criteria Cells D13:E13, I knew what they were, they were a plain and simple “C1”
So what was in E2:E12 ?
Next step was to look at the Ascii values of the 2 characters in Column E.
In K2: =Code(Left(E2,1))
In L2: =Code(Right(E2,1))
Copy both down to Row 13
Bingo !
The Character C in cell E2 wasn’t the same as the Character C in E13 ?
Yet both cells contained a Calibri Font.
If I now type in a spare cells:
F18 =Char(63), Excel displays a “?”
F19 =Char(67), Excel displays a “C”
Yet Cell E2 is clearly displaying C1 with a First Character Ascii code of 63 which should be a ? mark.
I suspected that it had been copied and pasted from MS Access, So I shot an email back to Elkhan, asking “What the source of the data was?”.
The response came back that “The data had been copied from a Russian (Cyrillic) version of an MS Word File and pasted into an English version of Excel.”
I can’t explain what has happened but somehow the character sets and associated values got scrambled when copied the data from the Russian Word Document into Excel
If you have had experiences like this or can explain what has happened please do so in the comments below:
Solution
The Solution was now easy
Use Search/Replace
Copy the contents of cell E1,
goto Search/Replace or Ctrl H
Find: Paste the contents of Cell E1
Replace with: C1
Conclusions:
- Be careful when receiving data from foreign language files, including word and Excel files
- Check summations based on such data to ensure its integrity
- Be methodical in tracking down problem cells
Lets us know about your Data Transfer Nightmares
Have you had any strange data transfer issues?
Let us know in the comments below.
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)