Hidden "?" in cells

[Magpieranger]

I have a worksheet that contains product codes (all a standard format) however when using the SUMIF function (based on the product code) I am not seeing the expected results.

After a little digging I used the LEN function and found that some of the codes are 8 characters long instead of the expected 6. There are no leading or trailing spaces and when I used the LEFT and RIGHT functions it returns what looks like a blank cell. I then pointed the CODE function to this supposed blank cell and it returns the ASCII code of 63 which is a "?"

There are no "?" visible in the cell and there doesn't seem to be a way of replacing them, I've tried substitute/find & replace/Clean/Trim but they still remain.

I've used excel for 20+ years but have not seen anything like this.

Help

 

[sheetspread]

Can you highlight the "space" and replace it with nothing in ctrl-h ?

 

[DataBlake]

what is returned when you point this formula to one of those cells?
=CODE(A1)

Edit: and what is the first letter/number/character that you see?

 

[sheetspread]

I used the LEFT and RIGHT functions it returns what looks like a blank cell.

Did you search all possible number of characters? i.e., left(a1,1) left(a1,2).... etc?

 

[Fluff]

What do you get if you use
=UNICODE(A1)
Where A1 is the supposedly blank cell