Using conditional formatting to identify if a cell contains any symbols

[hvl888]

Hi,

Hoping someone can help.

Does anyone know if I can use conditional formatting to flag a cell that contains any symbols that are not alpha or numeric. For example

if cell A1 = ABC,123 I want it to fill the cell in red

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

 

[Fazza]

via google I found https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29855647/check-if-cell-contains-non-alpha-characters-in-excel

which leads to this formula in the conditional formatting,
=ISERROR(SUMPRODUCT(SEARCH(MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))),1),"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789")))

 

[Rick Rothstein]

This is probably slightly slower than using a direct formula, but I think it will be far more readable when reviewing your setup 6 months from now. Put this UDF (user defined function) in a general code module...

Function IsAlphaNumeric(Txt As String) As Boolean
  IsAlphaNumeric = Txt Like "*[!A-Za-z0-9 ]*"
End Function

and then assuming the active cell in your selected range is A1, use this formula in your Conditional Formatting rule...

=IsAlphaNumeric(A1)

 

[Fazza]

Love your work, Rick

for understanding in 6 months, maybe better named something like IsNotAlphaNumeric

regards, Fazza

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Love your work, Rick

for understanding in 6 months, maybe better named something like IsNotAlphaNumeric

Ugh, I forgot the Not keyword.

I meant to write the function this way...

Function IsAlphaNumeric(Txt As String) As Boolean
  IsAlphaNumeric = [B][COLOR="#FF0000"]Not[/COLOR][/B] Txt Like "*[!A-Za-z0-9 ]*"
End Function

Thanks for noticing that I had done something wrong.

I included a space character as an alpha character, but in thinking about it, the OP may not have wanted that. If that is the case, the OP should remove the space before the closing square bracket.

 

[Fazza]

I did notice that space.

I'm getting knotted in the nots, Rick. If putting the Not in the function, then should the conditional formatting rule be = NOT(IsAlphaNumeric(A1))

Hence my earlier comment to rename the function to IsNotAlphaNumeric & use it in the conditional formatting.

 

[Rick Rothstein]

I did notice that space.

I'm getting knotted in the nots, Rick. If putting the Not in the function, then should the conditional formatting rule be = NOT(IsAlphaNumeric(A1))

Hence my earlier comment to rename the function to IsNotAlphaNumeric & use it in the conditional formatting.

You are correct on all counts. In thinking about it, I think your original suggestion makes the most sense given what the OP asked. The OP must be thoroughly confused by now. To help straighten him out, here is the function that I should have posted originally...

Function v(Txt As String) As Boolean
  IsAlphaNumeric = Txt Like "*[!A-Za-z0-9 ]*"
End Function

and then use this Conditional Formatting formula...

=IsNotAlphaNumeric(A1)

I think I have it all straight now, so a large thank you to Fazza for the above.