hi,
using your example as an example, try this....

=MID(C1,(SEARCH("\",C1,4)+1),(SEARCH("-",C1,4)-1)-SEARCH("\",C1,4))

returns "filename345"
look up =search in xl help also.

Regards
FSt1

"John Gregory" wrote:

The text strings are random length - file path names:

c:\sampledir1\filename - description

In this example, I want to get the string "filename", but I have many
directories, all with differnt length names.

c:\samplelongname2\filename345 - longer description

etc.

In all cases I want to get the text between the "/" and the "-". The right
and left functions do not work because the number of characters varies.

Any ideas

"FSt1" wrote:

hi
you didn't specify any thing specific so all i can say is to look up these
function in xl help
=left......returns any number of characters that you specify starting from
the left

=right....same as =left except starts from the right

=mid.....returns any number of characters that you specify starting from a
point within the text to another point within the text

regards
FSt1

"John Gregory" wrote:

Is there a simple way to extract text in a cell that occurs between specific
characters, or to the right of a special character?

The text strings are various lengths and content.

Excel 2003, Windows XP SP2