Identify characters and split into different sheets

lnjohnson 

As a functional programming environment, Excel formulas cannot 'put' extracts anywhere except the cell in which the formula is written.  VBA, being an imperative programming language, can change the state of other cells.

So, a formula solution must have a formula that reads the 'sourceRange' on every sheet you wish to write to.

= LET(
    tail, TEXTAFTER(sourceRange, string),
    FILTER(tail, ISTEXT(tail))
  )

[The image shows the ranges on the same sheet for convenience]

lnjohnson 

You can use VBA code in Excel.

Here is an example of how you can achieve this:

1. Press "Alt + F11" to open the Visual Basic Editor.
2. Insert a new module by clicking on "Insert" and selecting "Module".
3. In the module, paste the following code:

Sub SplitCellsToSheets()
    Dim sourceSheet As Worksheet
    Dim targetSheet As Worksheet
    Dim sourceRange As Range
    Dim cell As Range
    Dim firstThreeChars As String
    Dim lastRow As Long
    
    ' Set the source sheet
    Set sourceSheet = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1") ' Replace "Sheet1" with your source sheet name
    
    ' Set the source range
    lastRow = sourceSheet.Cells(sourceSheet.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp).Row
    Set sourceRange = sourceSheet.Range("A1:A" & lastRow) ' Assuming the data is in column A
    
    ' Loop through each cell in the source range
    For Each cell In sourceRange
        ' Get the first three characters of the cell value
        firstThreeChars = Left(cell.Value, 3)
        
        ' Check if a sheet with the first three characters exists, create one if it doesn't
        On Error Resume Next
        Set targetSheet = ThisWorkbook.Sheets(firstThreeChars)
        On Error GoTo 0
        If targetSheet Is Nothing Then
            Set targetSheet = ThisWorkbook.Sheets.Add(After:=ThisWorkbook.Sheets(ThisWorkbook.Sheets.Count))
            targetSheet.Name = firstThreeChars
        End If
        
        ' Copy the cell value to the target sheet
        targetSheet.Cells(targetSheet.Cells(targetSheet.Rows.Count, "A").End(xlUp).Row + 1, "A").Value = cell.Value
    Next cell
End Sub

4. Update the code with the appropriate sheet names and column references as necessary.

5. Close the Visual Basic Editor.

6. Press "Alt + F8" to open the Macro dialog box.

7. Select the "SplitCellsToSheets" macro and click "Run".

This macro will scan the specified column (column A in this example) in the source sheet, identify cells with similar first three characters, and split them into different sheets based on those characters. Each sheet will be named after the first three characters, and the corresponding cells will be copied to their respective sheets.

Make sure to adjust the code to fit your specific needs, such as the column to scan and the sheet names. Also, remember to save your workbook as a macro-enabled (.xlsm) file format.

If you prefer to use formulas instead of VBA, you can achieve a similar result using formulas and filters. Here is an example:

Assuming you have your data in column A starting from cell A1, and you want to split the cells with similar first three characters into different sheets:

1. Create a new sheet for each group of similar characters that you want to split. Name each sheet based on the first three characters.
2. In the first sheet (e.g., Sheet1), enter the following formula in cell B1:

=LEFT(A1,3)

1. Drag the formula down to apply it to all the cells in column B, corresponding to your data range.
2. In the first sheet, go to the Data tab and click on the Filter button to enable filtering.
3. Click on the filter dropdown in column B and select one of the three-character values.
4. Copy the visible cells in column A (excluding the header) by selecting them and pressing "Ctrl + C".
5. Go to the corresponding sheet for that value (named after the three characters), select cell A1, and paste the copied values using "Ctrl + V".
6. Repeat steps 5 to 7 for each three-character value in the filter dropdown, copying and pasting the corresponding values to their respective sheets.

By applying filters and copying the visible cells for each value, you can split the cells with similar first three characters into different sheets manually using formulas and filtering in Excel.