Programming Guide

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9-4-15

Inputting and Editing Cell Data

k Cut and Paste

You can use the procedures in this section to cut the data in one location of a spreadsheet

and paste in another location. You can cut the contents of a single cell or a range of cells.

u How cut and paste affects cell references

The cut and paste operation has special rules that govern how cell references (page 9-4-5)

within the cells being cut and pasted are handled. There are actually two different sets of

rules to cover the following two conditions.

•When cells within the cut area are referencing cells that are outside the cut area

•When cells within the cut area are referencing cells that are also within the cut area

•When a cell within the cut area is referencing a cell that is outside the cut area

In this case all cell references are treated as absolute cell references, no matter what

type they actually are (absolute or relative).

Example Let’s say we have a spreadsheet that contains the following data:

A1: 4, B1: =A1+1, C1: =B1+2.

Cut B1:C1 (left screen) and paste the data in B2:C2 (right screen).

Since the expression in cell B1 references cell A1, which is outside the cut

area (B1:C1), the A1 reference is pasted unchanged (like an absolute cell

reference) into cell C2.

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