Keep Dashes Between Numbers Instead of Converting to a Date when Outputting Data

[mrchessmanj]

Hello,

I am currently working on automating a chemical inventory database for my employer. 

My workflow is doing everything I want, but when I output the data, the column of CAS registry numbers is sometimes converted to date format instead of keeping the dashes between the numbers. It is converted if the amount of numbers correspond to the date format E.g. XXX-XXX-XXXX ==> XXX/XX/XXXX

Is there a RegEx I could use to stop this from happening or maybe use the AutoField tool?

Thank you!

-Jackson

[BenMoss]

What is the type of your output? (i.e. xlsx? csv?)

[mrchessmanj]

.csv in excel

[BenMoss · Accepted solution]

IMO this is an excel issue.

When you output a .csv file from Alteryx I believe all values are converting to strings; leaving it to the software you are opening the data in to interpret the field type.

Excel will try and be clever and guess the field type.

If you know you want to use it in excel, save it as an .xlsx file and output the datatype as a V_String and then Excel should keep the data in the format you desire.

Ben

[mrchessmanj]

Ahh ok that makes sense. I will do that.

Thank you Ben!