=LEFT(A1,FIND("~",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","~",5))-1)

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from email address if mailing direct)

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,
Does anyone know if there's a formula to not just count words, but to
trim the number of words in a cell to a certain number (say 5)? So, if
the previous sentence were entered, I could get back "does anyone know
if there's", and the rest would be truncated. Any help is greatly
appreciated!
-Jon R