strip last 3 characters from a txt file

SandsB

Well-known Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2007
Messages
705
Office Version
  1. 365
Platform
  1. Windows
I need to mechanize a process to monitor one of our systems. I need something that will read a text file every minute and strip off the last 3 characters of the 6th line of text and put it in a text file with some other text.
So if the 6th line of text is:
7 100 1 0 0 0 741
I'd copy the 741 into a text file that says only:
Curent Load is 741

The last 3 characters my start with a space like " 41"
The text file needs to be completely overwritten every minute. I can use a scheduler to run somethign to do that. I just have no clue how to get that little string into a text file. I'm sure it's possible with Excel but I'm stumped. If anybody knows a non-Excel way to do it I'd appreciate that too. I have no money to buy any tools, though. Thanks
 

Excel Facts

Bring active cell back into view
Start at A1 and select to A9999 while writing a formula, you can't see A1 anymore. Press Ctrl+Backspace to bring active cell into view.
A formula such as
Code:
=right(a6,3)
would capture the last 3 digits.

This assumes your text file is dumping everything into Col A of a spreadsheet, and the required value is on row 6, as you say.

I don't know how you'd do the automation though.
 
Upvote 0
there is a formula in excel

=Left(A6, Len(A6) -3)

This would leave everything but the last 3 characters

There is some similar VBA

Code:
Range("A6").Value = Left(Range("A6"), Len(Range("A6") - 3)

Does this give you anything to start with.
 
Upvote 0
But how do I create something I can startup and run every minute? I know how to use the Windows Scheduler so I can kick off something every minute but how to I start Excel in a way that a command like that would run?
 
Upvote 0

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