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MS Excel 2003: Enter a value in an InputBox and then search for this value in a column and copy row to new sheet for all matching values

This Excel tutorial explains how to write a macro to allow a user to enter a value in an inputbox, search for that value in a column, and copy matching rows to a new sheet in Excel 2003 and older versions (with screenshots and step-by-step instructions).

Question: In Microsoft Excel 2003/XP/2000/97, how do I write a macro that will ask the user to enter a search value in an InputBox. It would then look for this string value in an entire column. If the string is found, it will copy that entire row to a new sheet in that same file?

For Example,

I want to enter the value "Mail Box" in an InputBox. Then I want to search Column E for cells that contain "Mail Box". When the string "Mail Box" is found, the corresponding row should be copied to a new sheet.

Answer: Let's look at an example.

Download Excel spreadsheet (as demonstrated below)

Microsoft Excel

In our spreadsheet, we've created a button on Sheet1 called "Search for String". When the user clicks on this button, a macro called SearchForString will run.

Microsoft Excel

This macro will prompt the user for a search value using an InputBox. It will then search through the values in Column E looking for that search value. In this example, we've entered "Mail Box" as the search value. When the "Mail Box" string is found in Column E, the corresponding row will be copied to Sheet2.

Microsoft Excel

When the macro has completed, the above message box will appear.

Microsoft Excel

If you view Sheet2, you can see that only the rows where Column E contains the string "Mail Box" have been copied.

You can press Alt+F11 to view the VBA code.

Macro Code

The macro code looks like this:

Sub SearchForString()

   Dim LSearchRow As Integer
   Dim LCopyToRow As Integer
   Dim LSearchValue As String

   On Error GoTo Err_Execute

   LSearchValue = InputBox("Please enter a value to search for.", "Enter value")

   'Start search in row 4
   LSearchRow = 4

   'Start copying data to row 2 in Sheet2 (row counter variable)
   LCopyToRow = 2

   While Len(Range("A" & CStr(LSearchRow)).Value) > 0

      'If value in column E = LSearchValue, copy entire row to Sheet2
      If Range("E" & CStr(LSearchRow)).Value = LSearchValue Then

         'Select row in Sheet1 to copy
         Rows(CStr(LSearchRow) & ":" & CStr(LSearchRow)).Select
         Selection.Copy

         'Paste row into Sheet2 in next row
         Sheets("Sheet2").Select
         Rows(CStr(LCopyToRow) & ":" & CStr(LCopyToRow)).Select
         ActiveSheet.Paste

         'Move counter to next row
         LCopyToRow = LCopyToRow + 1

         'Go back to Sheet1 to continue searching
         Sheets("Sheet1").Select

      End If

      LSearchRow = LSearchRow + 1

   Wend

   'Position on cell A3
   Application.CutCopyMode = False
   Range("A3").Select

   MsgBox "All matching data has been copied."

   Exit Sub

Err_Execute:
   MsgBox "An error occurred."

End Sub
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