Extract measurements from text and convert from metric to US customary?
Thread poster: Christopher W Gladden
Christopher W Gladden
Christopher W Gladden  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:30
Japanese to English
Jun 22, 2018

Hi,

I have an ongoing translation project that often involves conversion of measurements scattered throughout the text file from metric to US customary. I have a system for handling it, but it's still pretty laborious.

So I'm wondering if there's a program that does this automatically. I haven't been able to find anything so far.

Assuming there's not something that automatically can convert directly from the text, there seems to be an Excel function that wi
... See more
Hi,

I have an ongoing translation project that often involves conversion of measurements scattered throughout the text file from metric to US customary. I have a system for handling it, but it's still pretty laborious.

So I'm wondering if there's a program that does this automatically. I haven't been able to find anything so far.

Assuming there's not something that automatically can convert directly from the text, there seems to be an Excel function that will do it when values are entered in individual cells.

So what I'm wondering is:

1. Is there a smooth way to extract all numerical data from text? Erasing all the non-numeric data would of course work, too. I spent a while looking for online options and didn't find anything that worked well enough for my needs.

2. Then, is there a way to get that string of numbers into so many cells in Excel? For example, if I have a string of 100 numbers in a text file, is there a way to smoothly convert them to 100 cells in Excel (without cutting and pasting each one)?

It could be possible there's another approach / solution too that I haven't considered.

Any thoughts or ideas will be greatly appreciated!

Best,

Chris

[Edited at 2018-06-22 01:47 GMT]
Collapse


 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 14:30
English to German
support.office.com is your friend Jun 22, 2018

Christopher W Gladden wrote:

Is there a smooth way to extract all numerical data from text? Erasing all the non-numeric data would of course work, too.

Go to
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/find-and-replace-text-and-other-data-in-a-word-document-c6728c16-469e-43cd-afe4-7708c6c779b7
and look for "regular expressions".

For the mathematical conversion of the numbers you need a Word or Excel macro.

But in many senarios a mathematically exact conversion might be not suitable: Often you'll need round up/down and/or use more or less digits, depending on the context. E. g. if a person's height is meant, you should make 189 cm to 6.2 feet (instead of 6.201 feet).


José Henrique Lamensdorf
 
Christopher W Gladden
Christopher W Gladden  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 09:30
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Jun 24, 2018

Cheers Rolf,

I'll give that a try.

Best,

Chris


 
Adam Warren
Adam Warren  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:30
Member (2005)
French to English
Working via Word Jul 10, 2018

If the numerical data can be isolated as you describe, you can align the numbers in a column, each followed, after a tab, by its unit, ending each row by a "carriage return". From this array, and using those punctuation marks as parameters, form a 2-column table in Word, which then transpose into Excel for processing as you require. I hope I'm not stating the obvious.

 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Laureana Pavon[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Extract measurements from text and convert from metric to US customary?






CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »
TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »