Microsoft KB Archive/291300

= How to delete cells by using a &quot;For Each...Next&quot; loop =

Article ID: 291300

Article Last Modified on 3/27/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
 * Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q291300





For a Microsoft Excel 2000 version of this article, see 213544.



For a Microsoft Excel 98 version of this article, see 184378.



For a Microsoft Excel 97 version of this article, see 159915.



SUMMARY
Microsoft Excel 2002 and later versions of Excel delete cells in a &quot;For Each...Next&quot; loop in a different way than Microsoft Excel 97 and earlier versions of Excel do.

This article describes the differences, and it provides a Visual Basic for Applications macro example that illustrates how to delete cells in a loop.



MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure. However, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

Sample data
To use the macro in this article, type the following sample data in a worksheet:   A1:  a  B1:  1 A2: b  B2:  2 A3: x  B3:  3 A4: x  B4:  4 A5: c  B5:  5 A6: x  B6:  6 A7: d  B7:  7 A8: x  B8:  8 A9: x  B9:  9 A10: e B10: 10

Sample macro
In a new macro module, type the following macro. Sub DeleteCells

'Loop through cells A1:A10 and delete cells that contain an &quot;x.&quot; For Each c in Range(&quot;A1:A10&quot;) If c = &quot;x&quot; Then c.EntireRow.Delete Next

End Sub

Behavior of the sample macro in Excel 2002 and in later versions of Excel
When you run the DeleteCells macro in Excel 2002 and in later versions of Excel, only rows 3, 6 and 8 are deleted. Although rows 4 and 9 contain an &quot;x&quot; in column A, the macro does not delete the rows. The results of the macro are as follows:   A1: a   B1: 1 A2: b  B2: 2 A3: x  B3: 4 A4: c  B4: 5 A5: d  B5: 7 A6: x  B6: 9 A7: e  B7: 10 When Microsoft Excel deletes row 3, all cells move up one row. For example, cell A3 assumes the contents of cell A4, cell A4 assumes the contents of cell A5, and so forth. After the For Each...Next loop evaluates a cell, it evaluates the next cell; therefore, when cells are shifted, they may be skipped by the loop.

Behavior of the sample macro in Microsoft Excel 5.0 and Microsoft Excel 7.0
When you run the DeleteCells macro in Excel 5.0 and in Excel 7.0, the macro deletes all rows that contain an &quot;x.&quot; The results of the macro are as follows:   A1: a   B1: 1 A2: b  B2: 2 A3: c  B3: 5 A4: d  B4: 7 A5: e  B5: 10 When row 3 is deleted, all cells move up one row. Then, cell A3 assumes the contents of cell A4, cell A4 assumes the contents of cell A5, and so on.

However, unlike the behavior of the loop in Excel 2002 and in later versions of Excel, when the &quot;For Each...Next&quot; loop evaluates a cell in Excel 5.0 and in Excel 7.0, the loop reevaluates the cell if it is deleted in the loop. Therefore, the cells are not skipped.

Recommended method for using a loop to delete cells
Use the following macro when you want to use a loop to delete cells: Sub DeleteCells2

Dim rng As Range Dim i As Integer, counter As Integer

'Set the range to evaluate to rng. Set rng = Range(&quot;A1:A10&quot;)

'initialize i to 1 i = 1

'Loop for a count of 1 to the number of rows 'in the range that you want to evaluate. For counter = 1 To rng.Rows.Count

'If cell i in the range contains an &quot;x&quot;, 'delete the row. 'Else increment i       If rng.Cells(i) = &quot;x&quot; Then rng.Cells(i).EntireRow.Delete Else i = i + 1 End If

Next

End Sub The results of this macro in all versions of Excel are as follows:   A1: a   B1: 1 A2: b  B2: 2 A3: c  B3: 5 A4: d  B4: 7 A5: e  B5: 10

Additional method for using a loop to delete cells
This is an alternate method to the method that is shown above. This method produces the same results. Sub DeleteCells3

Dim rng As Range, i As Integer

'Set the range to evaluate to rng. Set rng = Range(&quot;A1:A10&quot;)

'Loop backwards through the rows 'in the range that you want to evaluate. For i = rng.Rows.Count To 1 Step -1

'If cell i in the range contains an &quot;x&quot;, delete the entire row. If rng.Cells(i).Value = &quot;x&quot; Then rng.Cells(i).EntireRow.Delete Next

End Sub

Additional query words: OfficeKBHowTo inf XL2002 xl2003 xl2007 xl10 xl11 xl12 kbnoOfficeAlertID

Keywords: kbdtacode kbhowto kbprogramming KB291300

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