RE: [libreoffice-users] Showing cell contents as text in calc. (Not evaluating the formula the text represents)

The single-' works in front of numerals.

Sometimes it works in front of a formula and sometimes it doesn't.  Typing a space before the "=" 
or the "{=" seems to work consistently instead. Good idea. 

I just checked in LibO 4.0.1.2 on Windows XP SP3.



-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Barker [mailto:b.m.barker@btinternet.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 08:30 PM
To: users@global.libreoffice.org
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Showing cell contents as text in calc. (Not evaluating the formula 
the text represents)

At 09:44 13/06/2013 +1200, Steve Edmonds wrote:
> I want to enter {=MMULT(MINVERSE(A14:R31),S14:S31)} in a cell and to 
> display this as the text "{=MMULT(MINVERSE(A14:R31),S14:S31)}" 
> (without the "" quotes). Formatting the cell as text doesn't help.

I think you can type this - complete with the braces - and have it 
appear as a text string and not be interpreted as a formula, in 
fact.  If you wanted it to be an array formula, you would need not to 
enter the braces but to use Ctrl+Shift+Enter (instead of simple 
Enter) to complete the entry; the braces are then added automatically 
to the display you see in the Input Line (as well as in the cell if 
you have the display of formulae selected).  You probably know that.

At 10:07 13/06/2013 +1200, Steve Edmonds wrote:
> ... please click into the cell and change S31 to S32. Do the 
> contents change into a formula or stay as text.

That is indeed where you appear to have a problem: editing the text 
string makes Calc reinterpret it as an array formula, which is what 
you are trying to prevent.

At 09:44 13/06/2013 +1200, Steve Edmonds wrote:
> I thought once you could prepend with a ' to define the characters 
> following as left aligned text but not show the '. This does not 
> seem to work any more, there must be a simple solution I am missing.

Yes, this does generally work, but I think there may be one of two 
problems here.  It does seem that if you enter what would be a 
formula but prefix it with the apostrophe, the string remains text 
and not interpreted as a formula, but the apostrophe remains 
displayed.  I don't know why this should be, but it clearly gets in your way.

Another point worth mentioning is that if you have Custom Quotes 
selected in AutoCorrect Options, then the apostrophe will be 
instantly converted to an opening single quote mark and will continue 
to display.  To avoid this whilst retaining custom quotes, use Edit | 
Undo (or Ctrl+Z) immediately after typing the apostrophe to undo the 
automatic correction.  Oh, but if you have existing leading custom 
quotes in the same column, you will see automatic suggestions and 
will need to Undo twice.

So how to do what you require?  Here are some workarounds:

o Enter a space before the text.  This will fool Calc!

o Enter the formula =T("{=MMULT(MINVERSE(A14:R31),S14:S31)}") instead.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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