Why do I need 2 single quotes for 1 to show up?

[UniMord]

Hi!

I have a column holding date ranges, e.g. '98-'99, '96-'02, etc. For some reason, the initial quotes, which are visible in the formula bar, are invisible in the cells, they show up as: 98-'99, 96-'02. I've been working around this by inserting 2 single quotes. Why is this happening? How do I fix this?

Thanx,

UniMord

[Mark W.]

The leading apostrophe is an alternate way of making a text entry and is never displayed.

For more on this use of an apostrophe do a Help | Find on the keyword "apostrophe" and read the topic for "An apostrophe ('), a caret (^), or a quotation mark (") appears in the formula bar but not in the cells."

[ This Message was edited by: Mark W. on 2002-05-07 13:30 ]

[klb]

Excel is interpreting the first single quote as a label indicator. A carryover from the good old days when you had to have a label indicator for text.

[UniMord]

Thanx for the quick responses. I tried setting the column to text, but it doesn't fix the problem. Any other ideas?

[Mark W.]

On 2002-05-07 13:28, UniMord wrote:
Thanx for the quick responses. I tried setting the column to text, but it doesn't fix the problem. Any other ideas?

Yeah, when I had a moment I went to verify my recommendation and made the same discovery (and re-edited my original posting).

As I now see it you have 3 choices...

1. Live with ''98-'99 (2 apostrophes)
2. Use ="'98-'99" (quoted text string)
3. Enter 98-'99 and format as ;;;"'"@ (format w/quoted apostrophe)

[ This Message was edited by: Mark W. on 2002-05-07 13:37 ]