Problem solved , have left original question below

 I removed - the  PromptChar character. 

Thanks

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Issue as it was below

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Upon defining a cell as "double" or applying an "Ultranumeric editor"  to the column it is not an easy thing to refer to the "text"  - as it now appears as "______17.00"

i.e. I want to refer to 'activecell.value'  and also 'activecell.text'. 

What is the best way forward ?

Can the underscore be removed ? Should i strip non numeric characters ?  

Change 'maskdisplaymode' , 'maskclipmode', 'maskinput'. combinations ?