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Thread ID: 34060 2003-06-03 04:03:00 Excel problem baudinet (3935) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
149371 2003-06-03 04:03:00 Can someone please advise how I QUICKLY fill in a cell
in Excel with the same letter or number etc, to create
an identical item across a number of cells.
ie 2222222222222
or babababababab
or -------------------- 		baudinet (3935)
149372 2003-06-03 04:19:00 Type the characters in the cell at the beginning of the row or column.
Select the small black square on the corner of the selected cell with the desired string in it.
The cursor will turn into a small + when you have it aligned.
Drag the cell by that corner over the desired range of cells, keeping the left mouse button held down
Release when you get to the end point of the range 		godfather (25)
149373 2003-06-03 04:43:00 Just as gf has described, but if you want to have bfbfbfbf alternately across the page you have to highlight the first two cells and drag them both. B.M. (505)
149374 2003-06-06 14:28:00 Thanks to you both, but try it with
=======
and a gap appears.
How do I get it to be continuous ?? 		baudinet (3935)
149375 2003-06-06 17:22:00 either enlose the ============ in quotes, so its "=============" or do not use the = symbol, as excel expects it to be followed by a formula.
Make sure that after you have typed the first cell, you press "enter"
Only have that cell selected.
Then drag as discussed above. 		godfather (25)
149376 2003-06-06 17:30:00 Further, the first cell should have ="========" (the first = not enclosed by the quotes)

However you may be seeing the difference in each cell between the displayed width and the number of = in the cell, and that may leave a space at the end of each cell.

If you are trying to make a continuous line of characters as a visual break, then first select the blank cells and then go FORMAT - CELLS - ALIGNMENT - TICK "MERGE CELLS"
That will make the strip into one long cell into which you can type a continuous string.

Or, try just typing a long line into the first cell anyway, it should splill over into empty cells to the right.

Or, use Drawing Tools to insert a line

Many ways. 		godfather (25)
149377 2003-06-06 20:58:00 While you are at it GF what is the meaning of life?;) Thomas (1820)
149378 2003-06-09 14:11:00 Ok - got it. Many thanks. Brian baudinet (3935)
149379 2003-06-09 21:04:00 I watched this with interest, and thought the original question was how to fill a cell with a given character or characters.
In the old days you could type in \= and it would fill a cell with the = symbol no matter how wide it was. Was handy for headings and layout. It doesn't work at all nowadays.

In Excel, you can do this:

=REPT("w",CELL("width",C10))

The REPT means repeat, and the CELL function returns information, in this case "width" (but there are heaps of other ones). I did this in cell C10. Sadly, due to proportionally spaced fonts, the w is too wide and overflows the cell and an i is too narrow and barely fills half the cell.
If you're bored, check out the CELL command, it looks quite interesting.
robo. 		robo (205)
149380 2003-06-21 21:33:00 Thanks robo.
You are quite right, it was easier in the "old days" !!!!!
I'll try your suggestion.
Cheers 		baudinet (3935)
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