Thanks Dave, that worked:
came up with the following, let me know if see anything wrong

=IF(CD9="","",IF(LEFT(CD9,3)<"<i",
--MID(LEFT(CD9,LEN(CD9)-4),SEARCH("<b",CD9)+3,255),
--MID(LEFT(CD9,LEN(CD9)-8),SEARCH("<b<i",CD9)+6,255)))

works for both:
11:35am - <b0.5601</b <i11:19am</i - <b<i1111.16</i</b

for others, was working on extracting number from variations:
<i11:19am</i - <b<i0.16</i</b
11:35am - <b0.5601</b
11:35am - <b10.56</b
11:35am - <b1111.5601</b


"Dave Peterson" wrote:

<b<i
is no longer 3 characters.



nastech wrote:

060705 Extract number from text/number string..

is there a way to make the following work? thanks

=IF(CC9="","",--MID(LEFT(CC9,LEN(CC9)-8),SEARCH("<b<i",CC9)+3,255))

to extract: 0.16 from: (formula above gets #Value error)
<i11:19am</i - <b<i0.16</i</b

----------
other variation, have formula that works for different input:
=IF(CC9="","",--MID(LEFT(CC9,LEN(CC9)-4),SEARCH("<b",CC9)+3,255))

11:35am - <b0.5601</b

--

Dave Peterson