Wrap Text On Spaces Up To A Maximum Number Of Characters Per Line
NOTE: The code in this message assumes your text does not have any Line Feeds in it. If your code does have Line Feeds, then use the code in Message #16 instead.
This question has come up several times in newsgroups and forums across the years, and it just did so again in another forum I visit, so I thought I would share the solution I posted in response here in this forum. To rephrase the question... you have a text string that you want to wrap into individual lines, with a prescribed maximum number of characters per line, but the line wrapping should only take place at a space between words. As an example, let's say the text string is this...
Today is a fine day to go outside because the weather is so nice.
and you want to line wrap it with no more than 25 characters on any single line. This is how the text should look (remember, we are wrapping text at a blank space only)...
Today is a fine day to go
outside because the
weather is so nice.
If, on the other hand, we were to allow a maximum of 35 characters per line, then the wrapped text would look like this instead...
Today is a fine day to go outside
because the weather is so nice.
Okay, here is a UDF (user defined function) that will perform the appropriate line wrapping (the first argument is the text you want to wrap and the second argument is the maximum number of characters per line)...
Code:
' Turn the Cell Format "Wrap text" setting
' on for the cell containing this UDF
Function WrapText(CellWithText As String, MaxChars) As String
Dim Space As Long, Text As String, TextMax As String
Text = CellWithText
Do While Len(Text) > MaxChars
TextMax = Left(Text, MaxChars + 1)
If Right(TextMax, 1) = " " Then
WrapText = WrapText & RTrim(TextMax) & vbLf
Text = Mid(Text, MaxChars + 2)
Else
Space = InStrRev(TextMax, " ")
If Space = 0 Then
WrapText = WrapText & Left(Text, MaxChars) & vbLf
Text = Mid(Text, MaxChars + 1)
Else
WrapText = WrapText & Left(TextMax, Space - 1) & vbLf
Text = Mid(Text, Space + 1)
End If
End If
Loop
WrapText = WrapText & Text
End Function
If you would rather do the line wrapping using a macro to process an entire column of text rather than using individual UDF formulas, then here is such a macro...
Code:
Sub WrapTextOnSpacesWithMaxCharactersPerLine()
Dim Text As String, TextMax As String, SplitText As String
Dim Space As Long, MaxChars As Long
Dim Source As Range, CellWithText As Range
' With offset as 1, split data will be adjacent to original data
' With offset = 0, split data will replace original data
Const DestinationOffset As Long = 1
MaxChars = Application.InputBox("Maximum number of characters per line?", Type:=1)
If MaxChars <= 0 Then Exit Sub
On Error GoTo NoCellsSelected
Set Source = Application.InputBox("Select cells to process:", Type:=8)
On Error GoTo 0
For Each CellWithText In Source
Text = CellWithText.Value
SplitText = ""
Do While Len(Text) > MaxChars
TextMax = Left(Text, MaxChars + 1)
If Right(TextMax, 1) = " " Then
SplitText = SplitText & RTrim(TextMax) & vbLf
Text = Mid(Text, MaxChars + 2)
Else
Space = InStrRev(TextMax, " ")
If Space = 0 Then
SplitText = SplitText & Left(Text, MaxChars) & vbLf
Text = Mid(Text, MaxChars + 1)
Else
SplitText = SplitText & Left(TextMax, Space - 1) & vbLf
Text = Mid(Text, Space + 1)
End If
End If
Loop
CellWithText.Offset(, DestinationOffset).Value = SplitText & Text
Next
Exit Sub
NoCellsSelected:
End Sub
Note the comment above the line of code where the DestinationOffset constant is set (the Const statement).
HOW TO INSTALL UDFs
------------------------------------
If you are new to UDFs, they are easy to install and use. To install it, simply press ALT+F11 to go into the VB editor and, once there, click Insert/Module on its menu bar, then copy/paste the above code into the code window that just opened up. That's it.... you are done. You can now use WrapText just like it was a built-in Excel function. For example (assuming 35 characters per line),
=WrapText(A1,35)
HOW TO INSTALL MACROs
------------------------------------
If you are new to macros, they are easy to install and use. To install it, simply press ALT+F11 to go into the VB editor and, once there, click Insert/Module on its menu bar, then copy/paste the above code into the code window that just opened up. That's it.... you are done. To use the macro, go back to the worksheet with your data on it and press ALT+F8, select the macro name (WrapTextOnSpacesWithMaxCharactersPerLine) from the list that appears and click the Run button. The macro will execute and perform the action(s) you asked for. If you are using XL2007 or above, make sure you save your file as an "Excel Macro-Enabled Workbook (*.xlsm).
Posting the new lines to consecutive cells
Hi All
The code is very useful, thanks!!
Ive stumbled upon a requirement where in the Split Texts need to be pasted in the cells adjacent to the source cell.
As in when text is present in
A1 like "Hi My name is John, i live way back up in the woods in the evergreens, where stood a long cabin, and im a country boy who cannot read and write so well but i can play a guitar just like a ringin a bell"
In B1 the text should be "Hi My name is"
in B2 the text should be "John, i live"
in B3 the text should be "way back up in"
and so on.
Also if I take the input via a userform TEXTBOX, is there a code that will post the lines to destination cells in the above format?
When the input is the Userform1.Textbox1.Text,
the out put should be printed in the cells of column B.
Could please help with this?
Thanks in advance
