Changing zip code format

[Shearman]

I have about 4,000 rows of information and one of the columns is for a client's zip code. The current format is *****-****, and I need to change them all to read only the first 5 digits. Is there a way to do this with existing information, or do I need to go into each cell and manually delete the last 4 digits?

I know I can remove the - by using control-H, but I'm stuck on removing the last 4 digits. I tried Validation to fomat the cells to only accept whole numbers from 00000 to 99999, but that did not change anything. Hopefully someone will have some good news for me.

Thanks!!

 

[KenCriss]

Can't you just insert a column and use =left(a1,5) to get the first 5 digits?

 

[Shearman]

Thanks for the formula.., I learned something new. However, I need the spreadsheet in a particular format (It's for loading information into a Dialer), so if I do that for the entire column, I cannot then remove the column with the incorrect zip code format since the formula is referencing those cells.

 

[Jonmo1]

copy the collumn with the formulas, paste special / values to the collumn you want the new zip code to be in.

 

[Shearman]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Both of you are God-sents!!!