Exporting each Excel column to individual text or csv files?

Question

I have an Excel worksheet with around 100 cols. Does anyone know of an easy way to write the contents of each column to a csv or txt file?

Answer 1

I don't have Excel in front of me, but I think this code is approximately what you need, give or take some syntax errors. It should write each column into a separate file, with each cell on a different row. It will work for arbitrary column heights, though the number of columns is in a variable (for now).

dim fso as FileSystemObject
dim ts as TextStream
dim i as Integer
dim myCell as Range

set fso = FileSystemObject

for i = 0 to TotalColumnNumber
   ' last argument, True, says to create the text file if it doesnt exist, which is
   ' good for us in this case
   Set ts = fso.OpenTextFile("column_" & i, ForWriting, True)

   ' set mycell to the first cell in the ith column
   set myCell = SheetName.cells(1,i)

   ' continue looping down the column until you reach a blank cell
   ' writing each cell value as you go
   do until mycell.value = ""
       ts.writeline mycell.value
       set myCell = myCell.offset(1,0)
   loop

   ts.close
next

set ts = nothing
set fso = nothing

Let me know if that helps or not, I can take another look later if you would like

Answer 2

Perhaps

Dim cn As Object
Dim rs As Object
Dim strFile As String
Dim strCon As String
Dim strSQL As String
Dim i As Integer

''This is not the best way to refer to the workbook
''you want, but it is very conveient for notes
''It is probably best to use the name of the workbook.

strFile = ActiveWorkbook.FullName

''Note that if HDR=No, F1,F2 etc are used for column names,
''if HDR=Yes, the names in the first row of the range
''can be used.
''This is the Jet 4 connection string, you can get more
''here : http://www.connectionstrings.com/excel

strCon = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" & strFile _
    & ";Extended Properties=""Excel 8.0;HDR=Yes;IMEX=1"";"

''Late binding, so no reference is needed

Set cn = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
Set rs = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")

cn.Open strCon

''WHERE 1=1 = headers only, note hdr=yes above

strSQL = "SELECT * " _
       & "FROM [Sheet1$] " _
       & "WHERE 1=1"


''Open the recordset for more processing
''Cursor Type: 3, adOpenStatic
''Lock Type: 3, adLockOptimistic
''Not everything can be done with every cirsor type and
''lock type. See http://www.w3schools.com/ado/met_rs_open.asp

rs.Open strSQL, cn, 3, 3

''Output including nulls. Note that this will fail if the file
 ''exists.

For i = 0 To rs.Fields.Count - 1
    strSQL = "SELECT [" & rs.Fields(i).Name & "] " _
    & "INTO [Text;HDR=YES;FMT=Delimited;IMEX=2;DATABASE=C:\Docs\]." _
    & rs.Fields(i).Name & ".CSV " _
    & "FROM [Sheet1$] "

    ''To skip nulls and empty cells, add a WHERE statement
    ''& "WHERE Trim([" & rs.Fields(i).Name & "] & '')<>'' "

    cn.Execute strSQL
Next


''Tidy up
rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing
cn.Close
Set cn = Nothing

Answer 3

A very quick line to get you started ...

for i = 1 to 100   
    open "file" & i & ".txt" as #1
    for each c in columns(i).cells
       print #1, c.value
    next c
    close #1
next i