VBA – Capitalise Range of Cells Before the Last Period: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you tired of manually capitalizing ranges of cells in Excel, only to find that the last period is missing? Do you struggle with complex formulas and macros that promise to solve the problem but end up causing more harm than good? Look no further! In this article, we’ll show you how to create a simple yet effective VBA script that capitalizes a range of cells before the last period, saving you time and effort.

Understanding the Problem

When working with text data in Excel, it’s common to encounter sentences or phrases that need to be capitalized. However, when it comes to ranges of cells, things can get tricky. The built-in CAPITALIZE function in Excel only works on individual cells, not ranges. And if you try to use it on a range, you’ll end up with a mess of uppercase letters and lost formatting.

Enter VBA, the powerful scripting language built into Excel. With VBA, you can create custom macros that can tackle complex tasks like capitalizing ranges of cells before the last period. But before we dive into the code, let’s take a step back and understand what we’re trying to achieve.

What We Want to Achieve

We want to create a VBA script that takes a range of cells as input and capitalizes the text in those cells before the last period. For example, if we have a range of cells containing the text:

hello.world
this.is.a.test
foo.bar.baz

We want the script to output:

Hello.World
This.Is.A.Test
Foo.Bar.Baz

The Solution: A VBA Script

Here’s the VBA script that achieves the desired result:

Sub CapitalizeBeforeLastPeriod()
    Dim rng As Range
    Dim cell As Range
    Dim LAST_PERIOD As String
    LAST_PERIOD = "."

    Set rng = Selection

    For Each cell In rng
        Dim txt As String
        txt = cell.Value
        Dim arr As Variant
        arr = Split(txt, LAST_PERIOD)
        Dim i As Long
        For i = 0 To UBound(arr) - 1
            arr(i) = Application.WorksheetFunction.Proper(arr(i))
        Next i
        cell.Value = Join(arr, LAST_PERIOD)
    Next cell
End Sub

Let’s break down what this script does:

• Dim and Set Variables: We declare variables for the range of cells (rng), the individual cell (cell), and the last period (LAST_PERIOD). We set rng to the currently selected range of cells.
• Loop Through Each Cell: We use a For Each loop to iterate through each cell in the range.
• Split Text into Array: We use the Split function to split the text in each cell into an array, using the last period as the delimiter.
• Capitalize Each Element: We use a For loop to iterate through each element in the array, capitalizing each one using the Proper function.
• Join Array Back into Text: We use the Join function to concatenate the capitalized elements back into a single string, using the last period as the separator.
• Assign Result to Cell: We assign the resulting string back to the original cell.

How to Use the Script

To use this script, follow these steps:

1. Open the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) by pressing Alt + F11 or by navigating to Developer > Visual Basic in the Excel ribbon.
2. In the VBE, insert a new module by clicking Insert > Module or by pressing Alt + F11 again.
3. Paste the script into the new module.
4. Save the module by clicking File > Save or by pressing Ctrl + S.
5. Return to your Excel worksheet and select the range of cells you want to capitalize.
6. Press Alt + F8 to open the Macro dialog box.
7. Select the CapitalizeBeforeLastPeriod macro and click Run.

The script will capitalize the text in the selected range of cells before the last period.

Tips and Variations

Here are some additional tips and variations to consider:

• Customize the Delimiter: If you need to capitalize text before a different delimiter (e.g., a comma or a dash), simply update the LAST_PERIOD variable accordingly.
• Handle Edge Cases: If you encounter edge cases where the script doesn’t behave as expected (e.g., empty cells or cells with no periods), consider adding error handling and conditional statements to handle these situations.
• Improve Performance: If you’re working with very large ranges of cells, consider optimizing the script for performance by using more efficient array operations or leveraging Excel’s built-in functions.
• Create a Button or Shortcut: To make the script more accessible, consider creating a button or shortcut in your Excel worksheet that runs the macro with a single click.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve shown you how to create a simple yet effective VBA script that capitalizes a range of cells before the last period. With this script, you can save time and effort by automating a common task in Excel. Remember to customize the script to fit your specific needs and consider optimizing it for performance and edge cases.

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