Pick random names from .csv file

**atorres0506** · #1 21st Jan 2009, 12:42

Hello,

I am currently working on a project for my company using an auto dialer system. Say I have a .txt or .csv file with 80,000 records. I need to find “x” (where x could be 15,000) random people in that database.

How would I go about doing this,

Thank You!

**Razer** · #2 21st Jan 2009, 14:58

I dont think Excel has a feature to do this, you're looking at a 3rd party program..

**Glaswegian** · #3 21st Jan 2009, 15:13

Hi

Excel does have a RAND function (which is fairly close to being random) - you would probably need to import the file first.

If you are using XL2007 then the import will not be a problem, but if using any earlier version, you might want to look at Chip Pearson's site for code to import large text files.

http://www.cpearson.com/excel/ImportBigFiles.aspx