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Barry MacDonnell's
Toolbox for WordPerfect

Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows®
© Copyright 1996-2024 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.

 Page updated Feb 20, 2024

DELETERC - Deletes empty rows and (optionally) columns from a WordPerfect table

Download DELETERC.ZIP (v2.1; 02/19/24; 26,295)

Written and tested in WPX6 but should be compatible with WordPerfect 8 and later versions.

WordPerfect 11 users: See important information about using macros in the first release of WP11 (11.0.0.233) at the top of this page.

Downloading, Documentation, Modifications, and Support

Disclaimer

Related items -

RowLines - Adds underlines and/or fills (shading) to every Nth row in a table for added readability or improved appearance

Using WordPerfect tables (some tips) 

 Purpose

The DeleteRC.wcm macro ("Delete empty Rows and/or Columns") in the download ZIP archive (see left sidebar) can -

•  delete ALL EMPTY ROWS in the current table [the menu default] — i.e., those rows without any visible (keyboard) characters, symbols, graphic boxes, or text boxes in any cell in the rows
123
 123
 123
 123




123
 123
 123
 123








123
 123
 123
 123
To also delete (or not) empty columns
after all rows are processed, see the first
checkbox option below.

    -or- 
•  delete ANY ROW where the first cell (i.e., in Column #1) is EMPTY — even if they might have visible characters, symbols, graphic boxes, or text boxes in other cells in the rows

123
 		123
 		122
 		123
123
123
 		123

123
123

123
 		123
 		123
123
123
123
 		123
123
As with the first option above, completely
empty rows will also be deleted.
To also delete (or not) empty columns
after all rows are processed, see the first
checkbox option below.

     -or-
•  delete ALL EMPTY COLUMNS — i.e., no cells have visible content. This option retains any empty or partially empty rows

123
 		      123
 		123
123
123
123








123
 		123
123

123
Only columns are processed, not rows.
Also, if the first column is completely empty
it can be skipped (i.e., retained). See the
second checkbox option below.
Menu

DeleteRC macro

Three check box options on the menu that modify the radio button choices:
□ The first check box ("When finished processing rows delete ALL EMPTY COLUMNS, too") — when ticked [the default] — will delete all empty COLUMNS immediately following the macro's processing of the table's rows (i.e., after you choose either of the first two radio button options on the menu and click OK).

Tip: If you un-tick (i.e., clear) that first check box, the macro will not delete any empty columns when you choose either of the first two radio buttons on the menu.

□ The second check box ("Always retain COLUMN #1 -- even if it is empty") — when ticked [the default] — will retain the first column even if all its cells are empty. (Some users might want to use that column as a "check off" column or for some other purpose.)

□ [New with v2.1] The third check box ("Display a dynamic message showing macro progress") — when ticked [the default] — will display a constantly and rapidly updated count of each deletion. (Note that a final tally message is always displayed.) The speed of updating the count can be slowed with a different default setting in the macro code (see tips below).

After the macro completes processing a table it will display a final message showing the results: Original number of rows and columns, how many of each were deleted, and how many were kept.

Notes and tips

¤  Some items are ignored: Cells with just regular spaces (spacebar) and stray format codes (bold, italics, styles, outline numbers, etc.) are not considered "text" during processing. Therefore, cells that contain only these items will be seen as empty during processing.

¤  On the other hand, WordPerfect symbols (Insert, Symbol... or Ctrl+w) and graphic or text boxes (which are produces with codes) are not ignored and their cells will be considered filled during processing.

¤  Menu (and other) defaults can be set in the redlined User Modification Area near the top of the macro code. Open the macro file (DeleteRC.wcm) for editing (Tools, Macro, Edit) and go to that area; make any changes; then click Save&Compile on the macro toolbar.

☼  [Macro writers:] If you need to select everything in a cell with a macro — format codes as well as text or other material — so that you can delete all items, see Footnote 1.

Caution:

Always make a backup of your document before playing this (or any) macro, or play it on a copy of your document. While you might be able to use Edit, Undo (or Ctrl+z) to restore all changes to the table (depending on your Undo options), it is always a good idea to have a backup just in case. [Disclaimer]
Footnote 1
(Probably of interest mainly to macro writers)

If you want to select the entire contents of a particular CELL — including all format codes, even those left behind be other operations — here's a Procedure that should do the job. (Tip: To select the contents of a particular row, see the second snippet of code.)
Basically the procedure selects any text and codes from the very top of the cell to the very end of the last line EXCEPT Row or Cell or Table terminators. The selection will include any [Hidden Txt] code — and therefore the hidden text — as well as any format codes that lie outside the cell's text character strings (e.g., [BoldOn]textstring[BoldOff]).
Most of the code came from the DeleteRC macro; the blue lines were added to capture any format codes at the top of the cell. The two WP51CursorMovement() commands (in green) ensure the code works even if Reveal Codes is turned off. The addition of the call to the procedure you see on the line just above the procedure itself (i.e., pSelectTableCellContents ()) is to prevent an error message if — for some reason — your main macro does not call the procedure (i.e., it's an "orphaned" code snippet).

(The original code of this macro was also posted at WordPerfect Universe here.)
// Select the current cell's contents:
 pSelectTableCellContents ()
// ... do other stuff here, such as delete the contents with SelectDelete ...
// Place this segment at the end of the macro:
pSelectTableCellContents ()
 Procedure pSelectTableCellContents ()
 // Selects the entire contents of the current table cell:
 If(NOT ?TableInTable) // Test cursor position
     Messagebox(;"Error in macro Procedure";"Not in a table cell")
    Quit
Endif
 WP51CursorMovement(On!)
 PosTableCellTop  // Go before any items in cell -
 While(?LeftCode>0 and ?LeftCode<>{195;196;197;198})
     PosCharPrevious // (moves before any codes except [Row], [Cell] etc.)
 Endwhile
 SelectMode(On!) // Turn select mode on -
 PosTableCellBottom // Go to the bottom of the cell -
 PosLineEnd // Go to the end of any line of text 
While(?RightCode>0 and ?RightCode<>{189;191;192;195;196;197;198})
     PosCharNext
 Endwhile
 WP51CursorMovement(Off!)
 EndProcedure

[Update:] To select the contents of a particular ROW -

// Select the current row's contents:
pSelectTableCellContentsInCurrentRow ()

 // ... do other stuff here, such as delete the contents with SelectDelete ...

pSelectTableCellContentsInCurrentRow ()
Procedure pSelectTableCellContentsInCurrentRow ()
// Selects the entire contents of the current table row:
If(NOT ?TableInTable) // Test cursor position
    Messagebox(;"Error in macro Procedure";"Not in a table cell")
    Quit
Endif
WP51CursorMovement(On!)
PosTableCellTop  // Go before any items in cell -
While(?LeftCode>0 and ?LeftCode<>{195;196;197;198})
    PosCharPrevious // (moves before any codes except [Row], [Cell] etc.)
Endwhile
SelectMode(On!) // Turn select mode on -
PosTableRowEnd  // Extend selection to end of row -
PosTableCellBottom // Go to the bottom of the last cell -
PosLineEnd // Go to the end of any line of text 
While(?RightCode>0 and ?RightCode<>{189;191;192;195;196;197;198})
    PosCharNext
Endwhile
WP51CursorMovement(Off!)
EndProcedure