Unable to locate hidden characters in a cell

Theemeadelis

New Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2023
Messages
20
Office Version
  1. 365
Platform
  1. Windows
I have a column of names that are duplicated, and the duplicates look to be the exact same. However when you perform =LEN() on the cells, it shows that there are definitely extra characters in duplicated value:

NAME
INTERUNITY MGMT DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
32​
INTERUNITY MGMT DEUTSCHLAND GMBH‬‬‬‬
36​
PPG IND EUROPE SARL
19​
‎‪‪‪PPG IND EUROPE SARL ‬‬‬‬
28​
RUDOLF DANKWARDT GMBH ‬‬‬‬
26​
‎‪‪‪RUDOLF DANKWARDT GMBH‬‬‬‬
29​
SAMOS STEAMSHIP CYPRUS LTD
26​
SAMOS STEAMSHIP CYPRUS LTD‬‬‬‬
30​
UNION MARINE MGMT SERVICES PTE LTD‬‬‬‬
38​
UNION MARINE MGMT SERVICES PTE LTD
34​

As you can see in the above example, there is 4 characters difference between the two top entries.

I have run both =TRIM and =CLEAN on the cells to try and remove extra spaces and hidden characters, but it has not changed the above status of the duplicated cells.

Is there another formula I can run besides TRIM and CLEAN to remove hidden/mystery characters?
 

Excel Facts

What does custom number format of ;;; mean?
Three semi-colons will hide the value in the cell. Although most people use white font instead.
It's a unicode character 8236 try
Excel Formula:
=SUBSTITUTE(A2,UNICHAR(8236),"")
 
Upvote 1
It's a unicode character 8236 try
Excel Formula:
=SUBSTITUTE(A2,UNICHAR(8236),"")
Hi - that has worked on the cells where the character difference is 4 (i.e. 8236) - but there are some instances where the character difference is 9, or 3, etc....

NAME
INTERUNITY MGMT DEUTSCHLAND GMBH
32​
INTERUNITY MGMT DEUTSCHLAND GMBH‬‬‬‬
36​
PPG IND EUROPE SARL
19
‎‪‪‪PPG IND EUROPE SARL ‬‬‬‬
28
RUDOLF DANKWARDT GMBH ‬‬‬‬
26
‎‪‪‪RUDOLF DANKWARDT GMBH‬‬‬‬
29
SAMOS STEAMSHIP CYPRUS LTD
26​
SAMOS STEAMSHIP CYPRUS LTD‬‬‬‬
30​
UNION MARINE MGMT SERVICES PTE LTD‬‬‬‬
38​
UNION MARINE MGMT SERVICES PTE LTD
34​

So in the above PPG IND EUROPE SARL example, the difference in characters is 9, whereas the RUDOLF DANKWARDT GMBH example, the difference in characters is 3.
 
Upvote 0
If you put this in C2 it will spill across showing what characters you have got in there
Excel Formula:
=UNICODE(MID(A2,SEQUENCE(,LEN(A2)),1))
 
Upvote 0

Forum statistics

Threads
1,223,234
Messages
6,170,891
Members
452,366
Latest member
TePunaBloke

We've detected that you are using an adblocker.

We have a great community of people providing Excel help here, but the hosting costs are enormous. You can help keep this site running by allowing ads on MrExcel.com.
Allow Ads at MrExcel

Which adblocker are you using?

Disable AdBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Pause on this site" option.
Go back

Disable AdBlock Plus

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock Plus

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the toggle to disable it for "mrexcel.com".
Go back

Disable uBlock Origin

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock Origin

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back

Disable uBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back
Back
Top