Try something like this:

For a string in A1

B1: =LEFT(A1,LEN(A1)-3)

Does that help?

***********
Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro


"Emile" wrote:

I am trying to extract characters to the left of position 3 in a variable
length character string.

Examples: 12548698; 124586; 111478566

In the above I want to get the following 12548; 124; 111478

I have successfully extracted the last 3 characters using the RIGHT function
now I need the number left after the extraction

Have tried several formulas but no luck

Thanks for any help

Emile