Applications

 

Help Sections:

General

Writer

Impress

Math

Draw

Calc

Base

Basic

Entering a Number with Leading Zeros

There are various ways to enter integers starting with a zero:

• Enter the number as text. The easiest way is to enter the number starting with an apostrophe (for example, '0987). The apostrophe will not appear in the cell, and the number will be formatted as text. Because it is in text format, however, you cannot calculate with this number.

• Format a cell with a number format such as \0000. This format can be assigned in the Format code field under the Format - Cells - Numbers tab, and defines the cell display as "always put a zero first and then the integer, having at least three places, and filled with zeros at the left if less than three digits".

If you want to apply a numerical format to a column of numbers in text format (for example, text "000123" becomes number "123"), do the following:

1. Select the column in which the digits are found in text format. Set the cell format in that column as "Number".

2. Choose Edit - Find & Replace

3. In the Search for box, enter ^[0-9]

4. In the Replace with box, enter &

5. Check Regular expressions

6. Check Current selection only

7. Click Replace All

Index

zero values, entering leading zeros

numbers, with leading zeros

leading zeros

integers with leading zeros

numbers, changing text/number formats

cells, changing text/number formats

formats, changing text/number

text in cells, changing to numbers

This help text is published from the OpenOffice-Help files under the Public Documentation License 1.0.