Calc wildcards not compatible with Excel

[LKeithJordan]

I’m using LO 5.1.2 on a Windows 7 machine. I have a number of spreadsheets that use wildcards in certain formulas and I am gradually converting old Excel workbooks to LO Calc workbooks as I begin new work and bring an old workbook forward as a foundation.

Two things have to occur each time I open an old Excel workbook and save it to LO Calc. First, I have to make sure Regular Expressions is checked in the Calc options. Second, I have to change formulas using the asterisk wildcard and precede the asterisk with a period – so for instance I have to change “S*” to “S.*” in all affected cells. Otherwise, the formulas containing the wildcards will not yield the correct results.

To me, this seems to be a compatibility issue that could and should be easily fixed – particularly if we want more Excel users to try LO Calc. Comments anyone? Is anyone listening at The Document Foundation?

[Lupp]

Please refer to the 5.2 release notes.

(I personally am not so happy with the inflation of options. In addition regular expressions are a well introduced concept, by far not only concerning office software, for decades now. They should be preferred over a competing construct conceived in stubbornness and …)

[mariosv]

I agree about regular expressions, perhaps the option guides to a source of mistakes depending of the option used, but I think remember wildcards in 123 since 80’s beginning.

[LKeithJordan]

Hi Lupp:

I had recently discovered that LO 5.2 fixed the wildcard problem. As I opened this post to update, I saw your advice. I am therefore giving you the point. Thanks for taking time to respond.

If anyone is listening at The Document Foundation, I would like to believe you read my post and responded by fixing the problem. That said, I hope you are now reading this update and will accept my thanks. As a long-time M$O power user, I now prefer LO to M$O and recommend it when appropriate.