Microsoft KB Archive/43298

Filling a Cell with a Repeated Character PSS ID Number: Q43298 Article last modified on 02-26-1993 PSS database name: W_eXceL

2.x 3.00

WINDOWS

Summary:

There are two ways to fill a cell or cells with multiple characters:

  If you want to fill a cell or a range of cells with a repeated character without typing in multiple characters, do the following:   Select the cell or range of cells to fill.   Type the character to be repeated.   Choose Alignment from the Format menu.   Choose Fill from the Format menu.    If you want to enter some text into a cell and have the cell fill with dots (periods) from the end of the text to the end of the cell, choose Format Number and you can automatically insert the dots in the blank spaces of a cell. The general form for a number format is [format for positive numbers] ; [format for negative numbers] ; [zero format] ; [text format]. The semicolons are used to separate the different formats. To enter a period in the blank spaces of a cell, the text format should be (without quotation marks) “@*.” For example, this could be incorporated in the format 0.00;0.00;0;@*. The @ symbol is a text placeholder that tells Excel where to place the text in the string. The asterisk (*) tells Excel to repeat the text character enough times to fill the column. 

More information about the Format Number command can be found on Pages 321-326 of the “Microsoft Excel Reference” manual.

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1993.