trim the first 2 characters from each line in a file

To use a formula approach, you could put this in B2 and drag down to remove the first two characters in A2 and down:

=RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-2)


Also, you say between 2-4 characters.  What is the logic behind removing 2 or 4?

Thanks folks! I don't have an example for you atm, but the extra characters seem to be random ASCII which precede the contents of each line in the docs. Usually it is 2 characters, sometimes 4 and occasionally it will be 5-9 characters, including one or more spaces, between the "garbage" characters.

The docs come from text dumps (they call them reports) from an MVS app called Universe, where one of the conversions that happens is EBCDIC-->ASCII. It's a black box to me.

i think that we really need you to prepare an example...
there must be something to figure out how many characters to delete...

How can we identify those "garbage" characters...

there is something missing in the formulation of this problem.

I can get you an example...I just need to strip customer-specific data, first since this has payroll info in it. :)

Agree with that. We are waiting for you then.

Here is a code to select an Excel file and replace string bits from the 1st column. Note, multi-select Excel file is possible as well as the string bits (for cleaning) and Column Index (data column) is configurable.

To run the code in the attached file, press CNTRL + SHIFT + M

Option Explicit
Private Const sJunk As String = "#$%!"
Dim sJunkFormula As String

Public Sub CleanFileData()
Dim oOut, oWB As Workbook, nCtr As Integer
On Error Resume Next
oOut = Application.GetOpenFilename("Excel Files, *.xl*;*.xls;*.xlt", 2, "Select the files to clean", , True)
If Not IsArray(oOut) Then GoTo ErrCancel
sJunkFormula = ""
For nCtr = 1 To UBound(oOut)
    Set oWB = Application.Workbooks.Open(oOut(nCtr))
    CleanRange oWB.Sheets(1).Range("A:A")
    oWB.Save
    oWB.Close
    Set oWB = Nothing
Next
Exit Sub
ErrCancel:
MsgBox "No File was selected.", vbCritical
End Sub

Public Sub CleanRange(oRange As Range)
Dim nCtr As Integer, oCell As Range
Dim m_sJunkFormula As String

If sJunkFormula = "" Then
    sJunkFormula = """~|~"""
    For nCtr = 1 To Len(sJunk)
        sJunkFormula = "SUBSTITUTE(" & sJunkFormula & ",""" & Mid(sJunk, nCtr, 1) & ""","""")"
    Next
End If
Set oRange = Application.Intersect(oRange, oRange.Worksheet.UsedRange)
oRange.NumberFormat = "General"
'oCell.Formula = "=" & Replace(sJunkFormula, "~|~", Replace(oRange.Cells(1).Address, "$", ""))
For Each oCell In oRange.Cells
    m_sJunkFormula = "=" & Replace(sJunkFormula, "~|~", oCell.Value)
    oCell.Value = Application.Evaluate(m_sJunkFormula)
Next
End Sub

Select allOpen in new window

CleanFiles.xlsm

John
If you can open these files in Excel and all you want to do is remove the first 2 characters of each line you could use Data>Text to columns... with fixed width.
You would only need one break line after the characters you don't need and you can chose not to import that column on the 3rd step.
If it isn't going to be the first 2 characters each time then you could create code that does the text to columns for however many characters it is.
Here's the code for 2 characters.
    Selection.TextToColumns Destination:=Range("A1"), DataType:=xlFixedWidth, _
        FieldInfo:=Array(Array(0, 9), Array(2, 1)), TrailingMinusNumbers:=True
The Array... part breaks down to this.
Array(0,9) - 1st column, do not import
Array(2,1) -2nd column, import starting at character 2
Note the character position starts at 0.
So for 3 characters you would change Array(2,1) to Array(3,1), for 4 Array(4,1)... and so on.
This would work if you can open the file in Excel and determine the no of characters to ignore.
 

Guys, I am having a hard time getting you a sample file. The problem lies with how much data (SSN, names, addresses, policy number...) is sensitive. I think I just have to be thnkful for the help you've given already. Thank you so much!
JohnD

Thank you again!