new line within cell text

**ffffloyd** · 07-12-2011, 10:21 PM

I am unsure which category to post this in, and so am cross posting this question under Excel General also.

When I want to force a new line within a cell, I can do it as I am typing by hitting alt-Enter. No problem.

However, if I want to do it programmatically, I would expect CHAR(10) to cause a line break. If not that then CHAR(13)&CHAR(10). However, no combination of these characters seems to enforce the line break; they just produce a continuous line of output with little rectangles where the unprintable characters appear.

My question: how do I enforce a new line programmatically within the text of a cell?

**stanleydgromjr** · 07-12-2011, 10:41 PM

ffffloyd,

Try:


Range("A1") = "new" & Chr(10) & "line" & Chr(10) & "within" & Chr(10) & "cell" & Chr(10) & "text"

**mudraker** · 07-12-2011, 10:43 PM

Chr(10) works for me

ActiveCell.Value = "test" & Chr(10) & "testing"

**ffffloyd** · 07-12-2011, 10:51 PM

Ahh, no. I didn't mean using VBA. I meant within the context of a worksheet cell. CHR is not available there; CHAR is the worksheet equivalent.

**shg** · 07-13-2011, 12:32 AM

If not that then CHAR(13)&CHAR(10). However, no combination of these characters seems to enforce the line break; they just produce a continuous line of output with little rectangles where the unprintable characters appear.

Excel ignore carriage returns (CHAR(13)); use line feeds (CHAR(10)) and format the cell to wrap text.

**ffffloyd** · 07-13-2011, 08:37 PM

Thanks, shg; formatting the cell to wrap text does the trick. It even works if the text is short enough to fit into the cell without necessarily wrapping.