How to Remove Quotes from a String in Excel VBA?
Do you have text strings in Microsoft Excel that contain unwanted quotation marks? If so, you can easily remove the quotes using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Excel. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the process of using VBA code to remove single quotes, double quotes, or both from strings in your Excel spreadsheets.
Whether you’re working with data imported from an external source or combining data from multiple cells, removing excess quote characters is a common data cleaning task. By the end of this article, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to automate this process using Excel VBA.
What is a String in Excel?
Before we dive into the VBA code, let’s quickly review what we mean by a “string” in Excel. In spreadsheet terms, a string refers to any sequence of text characters. Strings are often enclosed in quotation marks, either single quotes ('
) or double quotes ("
).
For example:
'This is a string with single quotes'
"This is a string with double quotes"
Sometimes you may have strings where the quotes are part of the actual text content, but other times the quotes may be extraneous and need to be stripped out. Thankfully, Excel VBA provides built-in functions we can use to easily remove unwanted quotes from string values.
Using VBA to Remove Quotes from a String
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, or VBA, is a programming language used to automate tasks and extend the functionality of Microsoft Office applications like Excel. We can write VBA macros (also called subroutines) in the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) to manipulate data in Excel.
To remove quotes from a string in Excel using VBA, we will use the built-in Replace
function. Replace
allows us to find and replace specified characters within a text string.
Setting Up the VBA Code
To get started, open up the Visual Basic Editor in Excel by pressing Alt+F11
on Windows or Option+F11
on a Mac. This will open the VBE in a new window.
In the VBE, insert a new module by going to Insert > Module on the menu bar. This is where we’ll write our reusable VBA subroutine to remove quotes from strings.
Start by creating a new subroutine called “RemoveQuotesFromString”:
Sub RemoveQuotesFromString()
'Your code will go here
End Sub
Any code we write between the Sub
and End Sub
lines will execute when we run this macro.
Removing Double Quotes
Let’s start with a basic example of using Replace
to remove double quotes ("
) from a string.
Between the Sub
and End Sub
lines, add the following code:
MyString = """These double quotes will be removed."""
MyString = Replace(MyString, """", "")
'Result: MyString = "These double quotes will be removed."
Here’s what this code does:
- The first line creates a string variable called
MyString
and assigns it the value"""These double quotes will be removed."""
. Notice the quotes are doubled up – this is how we escape quote characters within a string literal in VBA. - The second line calls the
Replace
function to modifyMyString
:- The first argument is the input string (
MyString
) - The second argument is the character sequence to find (
"""
) - The third argument is the replacement character sequence (
""
)
- The first argument is the input string (
Replace
searches for all occurrences of"""
(a pair of double quotes) withinMyString
and replaces them with""
(an empty string). This effectively removes the double quotes from the string.- Finally, the result is stored back in
MyString
. The original string"These double quotes will be removed."
now has the surrounding quotes removed.
Removing Single Quotes
The process for removing single quotes is nearly identical – we just need to use single quote characters ('
) instead of double quotes.
Add the following code to your subroutine:
MyString = "'These single quotes will be removed.'"
MyString = Replace(MyString, "'", "")
'Result: MyString = "These single quotes will be removed."
This code assigns MyString
the value 'These single quotes will be removed.'
, then uses Replace
to find all single quotes ('
) and replace them with an empty string (""
), thus removing the quotes.
Removing Both Single and Double Quotes
What if your string contains a mix of both single and double quotes that all need to be removed? No problem! We can simply chain two Replace
calls together.
Add this code to your VBA subroutine:
MyString = "'This string has both "double quotes" and 'single quotes'.'"
MyString = Replace(MyString, """", "")
MyString = Replace(MyString, "'", "")
'Result: MyString = "This string has both double quotes and single quotes."
The string 'This string has both "double quotes" and 'single quotes'.'
contains both types of quotes. The first Replace
removes any double quotes by replacing """
with ""
. The second Replace
then removes any single quotes by replacing '
with ""
.
The order of the Replace
calls doesn’t matter, since each call operates on the updated MyString
value. After both calls, we’re left with just the string content itself without any extraneous quote characters.
Removing Quotes from a Range of Cells
In the examples so far, we’ve been working with quotes in a single string variable. But what if your string data is spread across multiple cells in an Excel worksheet?
To remove quotes from a range of cells, we can use VBA to loop through the cells and apply the Replace
function to the value in each cell.
Assume you have string data in cells A1 through A10. Add this code to your VBA subroutine to remove any single or double quotes from those cells:
Sub RemoveQuotesFromCells()
Dim cell As Range
For Each cell in Range("A1:A10")
cell.Value = Replace(cell.Value, """", "")
cell.Value = Replace(cell.Value, "'", "")
Next cell
End Sub
Here’s a breakdown of what this code does:
- The
Dim
statement declares a variable calledcell
of typeRange
. This will represent each individual cell as we iterate through them. - The
For Each
loop cycles through every single cell in the range A1:A10. - For each
cell
:- The first line replaces any double quotes in the cell’s
Value
with an empty string, effectively removing the double quotes. - The second line replaces any single quotes in the cell’s
Value
with an empty string, removing the single quotes.
- The first line replaces any double quotes in the cell’s
- The
Next cell
line signals the end of the loop. Excel will go back to step 3 and process the next cell in the range until all cells have been looped through.
After running this macro, any cells in the range A1:A10 containing single or double quotes will have those quotes stripped out. The original cell values will be overwritten with the quote-less versions.
Troubleshooting Quote Removal Issues
If your quotes aren’t being removed as expected, here are a few troubleshooting tips:
- Double-check that you’re using the correct type of quotation marks in your
Replace
function. If you copied the string from another source, it may contain curly “smart quotes” (' '
) instead of straight quotes (''
). Replace will only find and remove the quote characters you specify. - If your string has multiple nested quotes, like
""'This "example' string""
, you may need additionalReplace
calls to catch them all. Work from the inside out, removing the innermost quotes first. - Watch out for leading or trailing spaces around the quotes. If your strings look like
" 'example' "
, the extra spaces will prevent the quotes from being removed. To fix this, use theTrim
function to get rid of spaces before doing the quote replacement:
MyString = " 'This string has quotes and spaces' "
MyString = Trim(MyString) 'remove extra spaces first
MyString = Replace(MyString, "'", "") 'then remove quotes
'Result: MyString = "This string has quotes and spaces"
Final Thoughts
As you can see, removing unwanted quote characters from strings in Excel is a straightforward process using VBA. With the Replace
function, we can easily find and remove single quotes, double quotes, or both with just a few lines of code.
Whether you need to clean up quotes in a single string variable or remove them from an entire column of cells, the basic steps are:
- Identify the specific quote characters to remove
- Use
Replace
to find those quotes and swap them out for an empty string - Repeat with additional
Replace
calls as needed to catch any remaining quotes
FAQs
What is the easiest way to remove quotes from a string in Excel VBA?
The easiest way to remove quotes from a string in Excel VBA is to use the Replace
function. This function allows you to find specific characters within a string and replace them with different characters or an empty string.
How do I remove double quotes from a string using VBA?
To remove double quotes from a string using VBA, use the Replace
function like this: MyString = Replace(MyString, """", "")
. This will find all occurrences of double quotes (""
) within the string and replace them with an empty string (""
), effectively removing the quotes.
Can I remove single quotes and double quotes from a string at the same time?
Yes, you can remove both single and double quotes from a string using VBA by chaining together multiple Replace
function calls. For example: MyString = Replace(Replace(MyString, """", ""), "'", "")
. The first Replace
removes double quotes, and the second one removes single quotes.
How can I remove quotes from multiple cells in Excel using VBA?
To remove quotes from multiple cells in Excel, you can use a VBA loop to cycle through a range of cells and apply the Replace
function to each cell’s value. For example, to remove quotes from cells A1 through A10, you could use a code like this:
For Each cell In Range("A1:A10")
cell.Value = Replace(cell.Value, """", "")
cell.Value = Replace(cell.Value, "'", "")
Next cell
What should I do if my VBA code isn’t removing the quotes from my strings?
If your VBA code isn’t removing quotes as expected, check the following: 1) Make sure you’re using the correct type of quotation marks in the Replace
function (straight quotes vs. curly/smart quotes). 2) If your string has nested quotes, you may need multiple Replace
calls to remove them all. 3) Use the Trim
function to remove any leading or trailing spaces around the quotes before doing the replacement.
Vaishvi Desai is the founder of Excelsamurai and a passionate Excel enthusiast with years of experience in data analysis and spreadsheet management. With a mission to help others harness the power of Excel, Vaishvi shares her expertise through concise, easy-to-follow tutorials on shortcuts, formulas, Pivot Tables, and VBA.