How to create a GUID in Excel?

Question

I need a function to add a GUID to cells in excel. I found this previous question on stackoverflow, but it is not working. It suggests the following function:

=CONCATENATE(DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,4294967295),8),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,6553‌​5),4),"-"     ,DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(16384,20479),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(32768,49151‌​),4),"-"     ,DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4),DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,4294967295),8)) 

I have been unable to get the concatenate method to work, and so tried it using the "&" figure to concatenate anyway. That seemed to work, but then I get an inexplicable error on the second DEX2HEX block: DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,6553‌​5),4). The Excel formula evaluator says it's invalid, but I can't seem to figure out why at all. Any ideas?

Answer 1

As of modern version of Excel, there's the syntax with commas, not semicolons. I'm posting this answer for convenience of others so they don't have to replace the strings- We're all lazy... hrmp... human, right?

=CONCATENATE(DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,4294967295),8),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,4294967295),8),DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4))

Or, if you like me dislike when a guid screams and shouts and you, we can go lower-cased like this.

=LOWER(CONCATENATE(DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,4294967295),8),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4),"-",DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,4294967295),8),DEC2HEX(RANDBETWEEN(0,65535),4)))

Answer 2

I am using the following function in v.2013 excel vba macro code

Public Function GetGUID() As String      GetGUID = Mid$(CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib").GUID, 2, 36)  End Function