You can do this with a formula

=left(A1,search("-",a1)-1))

For your sample part number (DF24-10W52-08LPHHN), you want to parse out
DF24. What do you want to do after that?

--
HTH,
Barb Reinhardt



"Bob" wrote:

I have a part list which I update monthly. In most cases the part numbers
are 10+ characters long however after the first 3 or 4 characters I can
determine what kind of part it is. What I would like to do is create a macro
that based on the first 3 to 4 characters would populate the product category
field in the second column. For example part number DF24-10W52-08LPHHN in
column "A" would equal product Category in Column "B". I would just use DF24
in the macro. Also my part list is about 40,000 lines.

Thanks.

--
Bob