String combining column names. Extract values from these columns.

[regresss]

Hi, I have 40 columns named 001,..., 040. They consist of up to 200 hundred NATURAL numbers. I need to create a macro that will copy values only from certain columns based on the strings I have to process (e.g. 002-040-017-023 or 009-008 or 006 etc.).
Example:

IN
001	002	003	004
1	2	3	0
2	4	7	1
3	6	9	2
4	8		
5	10		

OUT
001-004-002	004-003
0	0
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	7
5	9
6	
7	
8	
9	
10

Any idea? I was thinking about selecting values based on prefix from a column where I would store all column values (with prefixes representing column names). Then the macro would remove prefixes, blanks, duplicates and sort it out values. I am able to produce everything except for the function selection column values.

[skywriter]

Attach a sample workbook. Make sure there is just enough data to demonstrate your need. Include a BEFORE sheet and an AFTER sheet in the workbook if needed to show the process you're trying to complete or automate. Make sure your desired results are shown, mock them up manually if necessary.

Remember to desensitize the data.

Click on GO ADVANCED and use the paperclip icon to open the upload window.

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[stnkynts]

Need some clarity on how you plan on identifying the column names that have to be processed. To me it seems like you are going to need to incorporate some sort of listbox. Depending on how you want to display the output a UserForm might work well. Either way as skywriter said; we need more.

[regresss]

abc.xlsx

There should probably be some translator which recognizes columns based on the string. I was thinking about overcoming this with a prefix and then requesting cells where prefix is "string before the first hyphen", ..., "string after the last hyphen".

[skywriter]

Try this:

Sub Requests()
Dim dic As Object, arrRequests, j, colNumber As Long, lr As Long, r As Range, arrData, rngSort
Set dic = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
arrRequests = Split(Range("I2"), "-")
With Worksheets("Sheet1")
For Each j In arrRequests
    colNumber = .Range("A2").CurrentRegion.Rows(2).Find _
        (What:=j).Column
                lr = .Cells(.Rows.Count, colNumber).End(xlUp).Row
          For Each r In .Range(.Cells(3, colNumber), .Cells(lr, colNumber))
            If Not dic.exists(r.Value) Then dic.Add r.Value, Empty
          Next r
Next j
arrData = dic.keys()
.Range("I3").Resize(UBound(arrData) + 1, 1) = Application.Transpose(arrData)
Set rngSort = .Range("I3").Resize(UBound(arrData) + 1, 1)
    rngSort.Sort Key1:=rngSort, Order1:=xlAscending, Header:=xlNo
End With

End Sub