How To Extract Text From A Cell In Excel

Extract Text from Cell in Excel

Using Excel Text Functions

Excel offers the LEFT, RIGHT, and MID functions for simple text extraction. Use the LEFT function to extract text from the beginning of a cell, specifying the number of characters. The RIGHT function works similarly but starts from the end of the cell. For extracting text from the middle, use the MID function, providing the start position and number of characters to extract.

Finding Substrings with SEARCH and FIND

To locate and extract text around specific characters, use the SEARCH or FIND functions. SEARCH is case-insensitive, while FIND is case-sensitive. Combine them with LEFT, RIGHT, or MID to extract specific text portions before or after a character found in the cell.

Advanced Text Extraction Tools

For more complex extractions, such as removing non-printing characters, use the SUBSTITUTE function. The TEXTSPLIT function can divide text into multiple cells using delimiters. Use TEXTJOIN to merge strings or CHOOSECOLS to select specific text portions from the output of other functions.

Regular Expressions and Ultimate Suite Tools

To extract patterns like email addresses, utilize regular expressions with the RegExpExtract function. Additionally, Ablebits' Ultimate Suite for Excel provides the Extract Text tool for advanced substring extraction and the Split Text tool to divide text into separate strings.

Practical Examples

For example, to extract "A-1" from "A-1 Mfg. Co., Inc", use =LEFT(A1, 2). To find text after "Mfg.", apply =MID(A1, SEARCH("Mfg.", A1) + 4, LEN(A1)). To split "A-1 Mfg. Co., Inc" into separate cells, use =TEXTSPLIT(A1, " .,").

Removing Unnecessary Characters

Excel's SUBSTITUTE function can replace unwanted characters, and the Remove Characters tool in the Ultimate Suite quickly eliminates extra spaces, line breaks, or non-printing characters.

Trial Versions and Free Tools

Explore the capabilities of the Ultimate Suite for Excel with a free trial mode, offering a range of functions for text extraction and manipulation.

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