Formating numbers in Excel when format is not consistent

kvrogers
kvrogers used Ask the Experts™
on
I have a SQL report that I have run and have copied the report into Excel the TOP 25 Dx codes used.  
When I run the SQL report it looks like this:

PrimDx      Count
715.96       8109
719.46       3368
716.96      1489
V54.89      1485
719.41      1460
726.5      1219
V43.65      1148
726.10      1038
715.91      841
716.91      678
719.45      664
813.42      588
715.95      569
729.1      565
840.4      456
824.2      451
V43.64      406
719.47      394
959.7      394
836.0      365
825.25      361
812.00      341
719.06      331
726.2      329
726.32      324

When I put this into Excel and format the field with NUMBER instead of General I get this:

PrimDx      Count
715.96      8102
719.46      3366
716.96      1488
V54.89      1481
719.41      1460
726.50      1219
V43.65      1148
726.10      1038
715.91      841
716.91      678
719.45      664
813.42      588
715.95      569
729.10      565
840.40      455
824.20      451
V43.64      406
719.47      394
959.70      393
836.00      365
825.25      361
812.00      341
726.20      329
719.06      328
726.32      324

Notice that they do not match exactly. Notice that 7.26.5 in SQL has now become 726.50.   How do I customize the Dx column to read as it does on the SQL sheet.

KR
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Commented:
I don't understand. The only difference between your 2 sets of data is that one has trailing zeros and the other does not (i.e., one has 729.10 but the other has 729.1).

The "7.26.5" that you mention is not in your pasted data.

What do you expect to happen to 7.26.5 when it becomes a number?

What most people want to do regarding "numeric data that is really text" is to stop Excel from converting the data at all. That can be accomplished by formatting the columns as text (instead of the default of "general") before pasting the data.
kvrogers

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Commented:
Thank you.  that worked.  I changed the formatting to Text and that worked.  That did exactly what I wanted.  The text format kept the field exactly as it was originally exported.    With medical ICD9 codes, some will be 726.50 and others will be 726.5.  Thanks again.

KR

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