Extract maximum number from a string

Question

I am trying to extract all numbers from a string with a function in Excel. In the second time, I would like to extract the maximum value contains in the string.

Answer 1

You don't really need VBA for this if you have a version of Excel (2010+) that includes the AGGREGATE function, you can do it with a worksheet formula:

=AGGREGATE(14,6,--TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1,",",REPT(" ",99)),"=",REPT(" ",99)),seq_99,99)),1)

where seq_99 is a Named Formula that refers to:

=IF(ROW(INDEX($1:$65535,1,1):INDEX($1:$65535,255,1))=1,1,(ROW(INDEX($1:$65535,1,1):INDEX($1:$65535,255,1))-1)*99)

The function results in an array, some of the values are numeric; the AGGREGATE function returns the largest value in the array, ignoring errors.

The formulas below are for earlier versions of Excel and must be entered as array formulas, by holding down ctrl + shift while hitting enter If you do this correctly, Excel will place braces {...} around the formula.

If you have 2007, you can use IFERROR

=MAX(IFERROR(--TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,",",REPT(" ",99)),"=",REPT(" ",99)),seq_99,99)),0))

For earlier versions, you can use:

=MAX(IF(ISERROR(--TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A3,",",REPT(" ",99)),"=",REPT(" ",99)),seq_99,99))),0,--TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A3,",",REPT(" ",99)),"=",REPT(" ",99)),seq_99,99))))