Is there a way to break a cell into separate columns?

[Nanaia]

Is there a way to break a cell of numbers so that each digit has its only column? i.e. cell contents are: 2345, is there a way to break that into four columns so 2 is its own cell, 3 is its own cell, 4 is its own cell, etc.?
Scenario: each number represents an edge condition, each edge condition has its own value (2=1.306) I need to be able to add the first and third digit values together, and the second and forth digit values. If I can break them into their own cell I can use a formula to add what the values represent instead of having to do it the long way.
Thanks for your help!
Regards,
Nanaia
"Do or do not, there is no try"~Yoda

 

[reberryjr]

There are a couple of options. You could use Text to Columns, or you could enter a few formulas. Assuming your data is in cell A1, you could enter these formulas.

B1 | =LEFT(A1,1)
C1 | =MID(A1,2,1)
D1 | =MID(A1,3,1)
E1 | =RIGHT(A1,1)

 

[Nanaia]

You're awesome! Thank you!
Nanaia
"Do or do not, there is no try"~Yoda

 

[reberryjr]

Glad I could help.

 

[Nanaia]

Quick question (I think...). Will your formulas prevent me from being able to do a VLOOKUP for their values?
Regards,
Nanaia
"Do or do not, there is no try"~Yoda

 

[reberryjr]

They shouldn't. Typically, formulas actually look at the value of the formula. What is the VLOOKUP being used for? I'm assuming for your calculation of the 2 middle digits.

 

[Nanaia]

You're correct. I'm getting an #NA error. When I enter just the number for the digit instead of the formula it finds the corresponding value, but VLOOKUP doesn't seem to like the formula you showed me.
Regards,
Nanaia
"Do or do not, there is no try"~Yoda

 

[reberryjr]

If the value of 2 is 1.306, what is the value of 3?

 

[FormR]

Hi, the LEFT(), MID() and RIGHT() functions return text - this may be causing your VLOOKUP() woes, try changing them to..

=0+LEFT(A1,1)

..etc, to convert their results to a number..

 

[Nanaia]

The values are actually sums of distances for the conditions. 3 = 1.576. The numeric values were given to the conditions because the program we were using got confused when we used the alphabetic character they'd been assigned, so they just switched them to numbers. I may have found a work around. Instead of converting the letter to a number then finding the value, I created an array that has each letter (the old system), it's corresponding number (the new system), and the lengths associated with each. VLOOKUP seems to like that setup. It puzzles me that it didn't like it before, but I've learned if you can't get the key to work in the door, try a different door, or maybe a window.
Thanks again for all your help!
Regards,
Nanaia
"Do or do not, there is no try"~Yoda