Excel Macro - Comma Separated Cells to Rows

Question

I have have the following data in excel:

a, b, c
d
e
f, g
h
i

with each row, representing a row and in one cell.

I would like to convert it to:

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i

I am using the following macro, but I can't get the autosize to do an insert, instead of overriding the cell values. Any help is appreciated.

    Sub SplitCells()


    Dim i As Long



    With Application

        .Calculation = xlCalculationManual

        .ScreenUpdating = False




    For i = 1 To Selection.Rows.Count

        Dim splitValues As Variant


        splitValues = split(Selection.Rows(i).Value, ",")

        Selection.Rows(i).Resize(UBound(splitValues) - LBound(splitValues) + 1).Value = Application.Transpose(splitValues)

    Next i



        .Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic

        .ScreenUpdating = True

    End With

End Sub

Answer 1

This macro will take your data from column A and "extract" it to column B. The results are shown below, feel free to cower at my graphical presentation skills :-)

    <- A ->   <- B ->
1   a, b, c   a
2   d         b
3   e         c
4   f, g      d
5   h         e
6   i         f
7             g
8             h
9             i

I've left it as non-destructive for testing purposes, and since it's relatively easy to create a new column, populate it and delete the old column in VBA. An exercise for the reader...

Here is the macro:

Option Explicit
Sub Macro1()
    Dim fromCol As String
    Dim toCol As String
    Dim fromRow As String
    Dim toRow As String
    Dim inVal As String
    Dim outVal As String
    Dim commaPos As Integer

    ' Copy from column A to column B.'
    fromCol = "A"
    toCol = "B"
    fromRow = "1"
    toRow = "1"

    ' Go until no more entries in column A.'
    inVal = Range(fromCol + fromRow).Value
    While inVal <> ""

        ' Go until all sub-entries used up.'
        While inVal <> ""
            Range(fromCol + fromRow).Select

            ' Extract each subentry.'
            commaPos = InStr(1, inVal, ",")
            While commaPos <> 0

                ' and write to output column.'
                outVal = Left(inVal, commaPos - 1)
                Range(toCol + toRow).Select
                Range(toCol + toRow).Value = outVal
                toRow = Mid(Str(Val(toRow) + 1), 2)

                ' Remove that sub-entry.'
                inVal = Mid(inVal, commaPos + 1)
                While Left(inVal, 1) = " "
                    inVal = Mid(inVal, 2)
                Wend
                commaPos = InStr(1, inVal, ",")
            Wend

            ' Get last sub-entry (or full entry if no commas).'
            Range(toCol + toRow).Select
            Range(toCol + toRow).Value = inVal
            toRow = Mid(Str(Val(toRow) + 1), 2)
            inVal = ""
        Wend

        ' Advance to next source row.'
        fromRow = Mid(Str(Val(fromRow) + 1), 2)
        Range(fromCol + fromRow).Select
        inVal = Range(fromCol + fromRow).Value
    Wend
End Sub

Answer 2

This is untested, but it's an algorithmic pattern I've used many times. It's been a while though, so don't trust the syntax exactly.

sub SplitCells()  
    Dim c as Range      ' iterator for cells in Selection  
    dim r as Range      ' to hold the range which is the first cell in Selection  
    Dim r2 as Range     ' variable range for single cell which is the target for inserting the result  
    Dim a() a Variant   ' array of variants to hold each cell's value after it's split  
    Dim b() as Variant  ' array of variants to hold the accumulation of values to spread into the destination  
    Dim v ar Variant    ' variant to iterate through b for insertion  
    Dim i as Integer    ' cumulative offset from top of destination range while inserting  

    For each c in Selection.Cells  
        a = Split(Replace(c.Text, ",", "")) ' will split on whitespace  
        for each v in a  
            b.Add v  
        next v  
    next c  

    ' now you have a new array with the full set of values  

    ' insert them a row at a time using Range.Offset  
    i = 0  
    Set r = Selection.Cells(0)  
    For Each v in b  
        Set r2 = r.Offset(1, 0)  
        r2.Value = v  
        i = i + 1  
    next v  
End Sub