CSV
Why Excel Drops Leading Zeros When You Open a CSV File
Why Excel turns 00123 into 123 when you double-click a CSV, what is lost on save, and how to keep zeros with the import wizard, Power Query or text columns.
6 min read
Tag
spreadsheets
45 posts
Editor's pick
CSVGuide
Opening CSV Files in Excel and Sheets Without Damage
How to open, edit and save CSV files in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice without losing zeros, digits, dates or accents: imports, settings, traps.
17 min read
Excel
Percentile Calculations Compared Across Excel and SQL
Compare Excel PERCENTILE.INC, PERCENTILE.EXC and MEDIAN with PostgreSQL percentile_cont and percentile_disc, with worked numbers.
6 min read
Excel
Splitting Text by Delimiter in Excel and SQL Queries
Split delimited text into columns or rows in Excel with TEXTSPLIT and Text to Columns and in PostgreSQL with split_part, string_to_array and unnest.
6 min read
Excel
Concatenate Text With a Separator Both Ways in Excel
Join text with a separator in Excel using TEXTJOIN and the ampersand and in SQL with concat_ws and string_agg, with blanks, NULLs and order handled.
7 min read
Excel
Lookup With Approximate Match Versus SQL Range Join
Compare Excel approximate match lookups with SQL range joins for tiers, rates and bands: how each handles gaps, boundaries and overlaps, and which to use.
7 min read
Excel
Count Distinct Customers per Month Both Ways in Excel
Count distinct customers per month in Excel with UNIQUE and FILTER, SUMPRODUCT or a PivotTable, and in SQL with COUNT(DISTINCT), with blanks handled.
6 min read
Excel
Remove Duplicates Keeping the Latest Row Both Ways
Remove duplicate rows but keep the latest per key, in Excel with sort and Remove Duplicates, XLOOKUP or SORTBY, and in SQL with DISTINCT ON or ROW_NUMBER.
7 min read
Excel
Rank Customers by Spend in Excel and SQL With Ties Handled
Rank customers by spend with RANK.EQ and sorted lists in Excel and with RANK, DENSE_RANK and ROW_NUMBER in SQL, including ties, top N and ranks per group.
7 min read
Excel
Running Total of Monthly Sales Both Ways in Excel and SQL
Build a monthly running total in Excel with expanding ranges, SUMIFS and SCAN, and in SQL with a window function, including ties and resets.
7 min read
Excel
Joining Two Sheets on Two Keys in Excel and in SQL
Join two sheets on two keys in Excel with XLOOKUP, SUMIFS or Power Query, and in SQL with a two-column join, handling duplicates, NULLs and missing matches.
6 min read
Excel
Finding the Second Highest Value in Excel and in SQL
Find the second highest value in Excel with LARGE and MAXIFS and in SQL with OFFSET, DENSE_RANK and subqueries, and decide how ties and NULLs should count.
6 min read