Excel BI - Excel Challenge 737

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excel-formulas

🔰 Split the text in different columns where split is on the basis of transition from number to text and text to numbers.

Published

March 24, 2026

Illustration for Excel BI - Excel Challenge 737

Challenge Description

🔰 Split the text in different columns where split is on the basis of transition from number to text and text to numbers.

Solutions

library(tidyverse)
library(readxl)

path = "Excel/700-799/737/737 Split Text on Transition.xlsx"
input = read_excel(path, range = "A2:A6")
test = read_excel(path, range = "B2:F6")

result = input %>%
  mutate(
    Value = str_split(Text, "(?<=[A-Za-z])-(?=\\d)|(?<=\\d)-(?=[A-Za-z])")
  ) %>%
  unnest_wider(Value, names_sep = "") %>%
  select(-Text)

all.equal(result, test)
# [1] TRUE

Logic: Read the workbook ranges needed for the challenge; Derive the required intermediate columns; Parse the packed text or string structure.
Strengths: The code maps the workbook rule into a compact, reproducible pipeline.
Areas for Improvement: The solution assumes the workbook layout and selected ranges remain stable, so any structural change in the sheet would require small adjustments.
Gem: The elegant part is how little code is needed once the correct intermediate representation is chosen.

import pandas as pd
import re

path = "700-799/737/737 Split Text on Transition.xlsx"
input = pd.read_excel(path, usecols="A", skiprows=1, nrows=5)
test = pd.read_excel(path, usecols="B:F", skiprows=1, nrows=5)

value_cols = input.iloc[:, 0].astype(str).str.split(
    r'(?<=[A-Za-z])-(?=\d)|(?<=\d)-(?=[A-Za-z])',
    expand=True
)
result = value_cols.set_axis(
    [f'Value{i+1}' for i in range(value_cols.shape[1])],
    axis=1
)

print(result.equals(test)) # True

The Python version keeps the algorithm explicit, which helps when the challenge depends on a greedy or iterative rule.

Difficulty Level

Easy / Medium

The business rule is clear, though the workbook still needs a few transformation steps to reach the expected output.