Assuming empty cells are empty and don't contain formula blanks:

=INDEX(A5:AA5,MATCH("*",A5:AA5,0))

That will return the leftmost *text* value.

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"BaggieDan" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I have lots of Rows that contain place names, for example A5:AA5, A19:AA19
and what I want to do is find the first place (left hand most name) in
each
row.

There will be a number of blanks in some rows before you get to the first
name, so although the range is A5:AA5 the first place name may not appear
until C5 where as in the range A19:AA19 the first name may be in cell G5.

I have a simple macro that removes some places according to a selection
the
user can make. So the lists will be different depending on the selection.

In a nutshell - I have a list in a Row and I want to find the left hand
most
word.

Hope this is understandable!

Cheers