How to Insert Double or Single Quotes

Question

I have a long list of names that I need to have quotes around (it can be double or single quotes) and I have about 8,000 of them. I have them in Excel without any quotes and I can copy all of the names and paste them no problem but there are still no quotes. I have looked and looked for an Excel formula to add quotes to the name in each row but I have had no luck. I have also tried some clever find and replace techniques but no have worked either. The format I am looking for is this:

"Allen" or 'Allen'

Any of those would work. I need this so I can store the info into a database. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

PS:

I have found other people online needing the same thing done that I need done and this solution has worked for them but I do not know what do with it:

You can fix it by using a range variable (myCell for example) and then use that to iterate the 'selection' collection of range objects, like so

Sub AddQuote()
Dim myCell As Range
    For Each myCell In Selection
        If myCell.Value <> "" Then
            myCell.Value = Chr(34) & myCell.Value
        End If
    Next myCell
End Sub

Another solution that also worked for others was:

Sub OneUglyExport()

Dim FileToSave, c As Range, OneBigOleString As String

FileToSave = Application.GetSaveAsFilename

Open FileToSave For Output As #1

For Each c In Selection

If Len(c.Text) <> 0 Then _

    OneBigOleString = OneBigOleString & ", " & Chr(34) & Trim(c.Text) & Chr(34)

Next

Print #1, Mid(OneBigOleString, 3, Len(OneBigOleString))

Close #1

End Sub

Answer 1

To Create New Quoted Values from Unquoted Values

• Column A contains the names.
• Put the following formula into Column B = """" & A1 & """"
• Copy Column B and Paste Special -> Values

Using a Custom Function

Public Function Enquote(cell As Range, Optional quoteCharacter As String = """") As Variant
    Enquote = quoteCharacter & cell.value & quoteCharacter
End Function

=OfficePersonal.xls!Enquote(A1)

=OfficePersonal.xls!Enquote(A1, "'")

To get permanent quoted strings, you will have to copy formula values and paste-special-values.

Answer 2

Assuming your data is in column A, add a formula to column B

="'" & A1 & "'" 

and copy the formula down. If you now save to CSV, you should get the quoted values. If you need to keep it in Excel format, copy column B then paste value to get rid of the formula.

Answer 3

Easier steps:

1. Highlight the cells you want to add the quotes.
2. Go to Format–>Cells–>Custom
3. Copy/Paste the following into the Type field: \"@\" or \'@\'
4. Done!

Answer 4

Why not just use a custom format for the cell you need to quote?

If you set a custom format to the cell column, all values will take on that format.

For numbers....like a zip code....it would be this '#' For string text, it would be this '@'

You save the file as csv format, and it will have all the quotes wrapped around the cell data as needed.

Answer 5

Or Select range and Format cells > Custom \"@\"

Answer 6

If you save the Excel file as a CSV format file, you might find that the result is convenient to inserting into a database, though I'm not sure all of the fields would be quoted.