Using string array as criteria in VBA autofilter

Question

I\'ve searched other posts and found similar issues but nothing that could help me specifically. I\'m trying to take an array of strings and use it as a filter criteria. It\

Answer 1

You do not need to transpose a single element from an array and you cannot put criteria into the 5^th field if you are only referencing column E.

Dim i As Long, arr As Variant
arr = Array(1, 3)

With Sheet17
    'to filter each value in the array one at a time
    For i = 0 To UBound(arr)
        .Columns("E").AutoFilter Field:=1, Criteria1:=arr(i)
    Next i

    'my values were numbers - AutoFilter likes strings in its array
    For i = LBound(arr) To UBound(arr)
        arr(i) = CStr(arr(i))
    Next i

    'to filter all values in the array at once specify xlFilterValues
    .Columns("E").AutoFilter Field:=1, Criteria1:=arr, _
                             Operator:=xlFilterValues
End With

Specify the Operator:=xlFilterValues when passing an array and the Range.AutoFilter Method likes strings as the values in an array.

Answer 2

The Excel documentation for AutoFilter provides some guidance. The Operator parameter takes a XlAutoFilterOperator that specifies how Criteria1 is interpreted. In your case, specifying a value of xlFilterValues will cause Criteria1 to be properly interpreted as an array of filter values.

The following example demonstrates this:

Dim arr As Variant
arr = Array("Alpha", "Bravo", "Charlie")

Sheet17.Range("E1").AutoFilter _
    Field:=5, _
    Criteria1:=arr, _
    Operator:=xlFilterValues