[SOLVED] how do I put a pasted list into different columns?

Hi,
I am sure I used to get data copied from somewhere else that consisted of lines of information like this :-

1. this is a. this is b. this is c.
2. this is a. this is b. this is c.
3. this is d. this is e.
4. this is k. this is l. this is m.

I did something like a paste special and somehow entered it into excel so that each piece of info was in a separate cell with the 'stop' as the 'separator'.
I can't see how to do it now? Am I wrong? is there a way?
thanks,
Bob.