[Solved] LEN function not working

Discuss the spreadsheet application
Post Reply
i75Dave
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2015 9:41 pm

[Solved] LEN function not working

Post by i75Dave »

In column A I have a list of email addresses, and in Column B I want to list the length of each address in A. For example,
A1 = johnsmith@cinci.com

Using the function wizard, in cell B1 I have entered =LEN(A1), but the function does not calculate the number "19" Instead, when I enter it, B1 just displays the function as text, i.e. "=LEN(A1)"

I have tried changing the function to "=LEN(+A1)"
I have formatted cols A and B so they are Text.
I've even rebooted my computer to ensure there are no memory problems.
All to no avail.

Can somebody please help me?

Thanks,

Dave.
Last edited by Hagar Delest on Sun Sep 27, 2020 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: tagged solved
OpenOffice 4.1.1 on Win 7 64bit
User avatar
Villeroy
Volunteer
Posts: 31344
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:35 am
Location: Germany

Re: CALC - LEN function not working

Post by Villeroy »

menu:View>Highlight Values [Ctrl+F8]
If B1 appears in green font, the formula is correctly evaluated but: menu:Tools>Options>Calc>View:Display Formulas is turned on which is only useful for debugging.
If B1 appears in black font, B1 may is formatted as literal text. See number format dialog.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
Ubuntu 18.04 with LibreOffice 6.0, latest OpenOffice and LibreOffice
i75Dave
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Mar 12, 2015 9:41 pm

Re: CALC - LEN function not working

Post by i75Dave »

Thanks Villeroy,

I turned on Value-Highlighting and the email addresses in col A were black. So I opened up a new col and converted the emails to text [=TEXT(A1;50) ] in col B. The LEN function now returns the number of characters correctly.
Thanks for your help.
Dave.
OpenOffice 4.1.1 on Win 7 64bit
Post Reply