Question:  In Excel, how do I write a macro that would look for a string in an entire column. If the string is found, it will copy that entire row to a new sheet in that same file?

For Example,

Column E contains all kinds of strings. I'm looking for a cell in this column that says "Mail Box". When the string "Mail Box" is found, the corresponding row should be copied to a new sheet.

Answer:  Let's take a look at an example.

Download Excel spreadsheet (as demonstrated below)

In our spreadsheet, we've created a button on Sheet1 called "Search for String". When the user clicks on this button, a macro called SearchForString will run. This macro will search through the values in Column E looking for "Mail Box". When the "Mail Box" string is found in Column E, the corresponding row will be copied to Sheet2.

When the macro has completed, the above message box will appear.

If you view Sheet2, you can see that only the rows where Column E contains the string "Mail Box" have been copied.

You can press Alt-F11 to view the VBA code.

Macro Code:

The macro code looks like this:

Sub SearchForString()

    Dim LSearchRow As Integer
    Dim LCopyToRow As Integer

    On Error GoTo Err_Execute

    'Start search in row 4
    LSearchRow = 4

    'Start copying data to row 2 in Sheet2 (row counter variable)
    LCopyToRow = 2

    While Len(Range("A" & CStr(LSearchRow)).Value) > 0

        'If value in column E = "Mail Box", copy entire row to Sheet2
        If Range("E" & CStr(LSearchRow)).Value = "Mail Box" Then

            'Select row in Sheet1 to copy
            Rows(CStr(LSearchRow) & ":" & CStr(LSearchRow)).Select
            Selection.Copy

            'Paste row into Sheet2 in next row
            Sheets("Sheet2").Select
            Rows(CStr(LCopyToRow) & ":" & CStr(LCopyToRow)).Select
            ActiveSheet.Paste

            'Move counter to next row
            LCopyToRow = LCopyToRow + 1

            'Go back to Sheet1 to continue searching
            Sheets("Sheet1").Select

        End If

        LSearchRow = LSearchRow + 1

    Wend

    'Position on cell A3
    Application.CutCopyMode = False
    Range("A3").Select

    MsgBox "All matching data has been copied."

    Exit Sub

Err_Execute:
    MsgBox "An error occurred."

End Sub