Inserting Line Breaks in Column Styling in Table Using a Formula

[JW1115]

I have a text field that I would like to insert line breaks into based on a date value as shown below:

3/15/18 No change4/16/18 No change5/15/18 No change6/14/18 EAC still within 120% threshold.7/17/18 No change8/16/18 Same as last month9/20/18 No Change10/12/18 Same as last month 11/12/18 No change12/17/18 Same as last month1/15/19 Same as last month2/18/19 Same as last month3/15/19 Same as last month 4/11/19 Same as last month5/17/19 same as last month6/17/19 same as last month7/18/119 Same as last month8/16/19 Same as last month.9/19/19 Same as last month.10/18/19 Same as last month.11/19/19 Same as last month.12/18/19 EAC still within 120% threshold.1/16/20 Same as last month.

I would like the text to appear as such:

3/15/18 No change

4/16/18 No change

5/15/18 No change

6/14/18 EAC still within 120% threshold.

7/17/18 No change

8/16/18 Same as last month

9/20/18 No Change

10/12/18 Same as last month

11/12/18 No change

12/17/18 Same as last month

This formatting exists in the input for my workflow but is lost as the data is processed. I am not sure what function could be used to accomplish this but I would appreciate any ideas that others might have. Thanks in advance.

[CharlieS]

Hi @JW1115 

Here's an example to get your started. It works, but I'm hoping someone has an alternative that can RegEx the dates and message in one expression.

- I start out by using RegEx to match the date strings using the following expression: \d{1,2}\/\d{1,2}\/\d{2}

- These dates are then used to replace those values in the original with a "|" character so the descriptions can be split too.

- Once the dates and message values are all split, I Join those values and combine them in a Formula tool.

- These [Date]+[Message] strings are then concatenate with a newline character "\n" in a Summarize tool.

This is now a text field with all the values on new lines. Check out the attached workflow to see this in action. 

PS: There's one date value in your example that threw me off. "7/18/119" has too many year digits. 

[DavidP]

How about something like this?

[JW1115]

These are both great solutions but I think I may have poorly communicated the solution I needed.  I am trying to do this formatting in one cell and use each occurrence of the date as the start of the next return within that cell.  I have a feeling this complicates this solution a bit more. 

Here is an example of what the original cell looked like:

1/17/17 No change.  Same as last month.
2/24/17 No change
3/21/17 No change
5/16/17 No change
6/13/17 No change
7/18/17 No change
8/17/17 No change
9/19/17 No change
10/13/17 No change.
11/15/17 No change.
12/18/17 No change.
1/19/18 No change.
2/16/18 No change
3/19/18 Reimbursement was made upfront. 
3/19/18 Reimbursement was made upfront. 
6/14/18 Payment made upfront.
7/17/18 No change
8/16/18 Same as last month
9/20/18 Same as last month
10/12/18 Same as last month
11/16/18 No change                                                                                            
12/17/18 Same as last month
1/15/19 Same as last month
3/15/19 Reimbursement was made upfront.
4/11/19 Same as last month  
5/17/19 Same as last month
6/17/19 Same as last month
7/18/19 Same as last month
8/16/19 Same as last month.
9/16/19 Same as last month
10/18/19 Same as last month
11/19/19 Same as last month.
12/18/19 Same as last month.
1/16/20 Reimbursement was made upfront.

Thanks for your help on this.  Maybe there is a way to keep this format on the front end of the workflow and I am overthinking it?

[DavidP · Accepted solution]

Is this what you're looking for?

[cpapaioannou]

@DavidP  Just a follow-up question a year later... The solution is perfect but I am struggling outputting it to excel. It seems as though - at first - excel concats all the embedded newlines. However if you double-click and hit enter, it seems fine.

Is it an excel issue? Is there any easy fix?

Thank you!

[cpapaioannou]

Nevermind, there was an easy fix just by enabling the excel's 'wrap text' cell functionality.