Thanks, I probably did not explain this well about VLookup -- however, your
solution works much better, thanks!

"Bernard Liengme" wrote:

That is not what VLOOKUP is used for. See
http://spreadsheets.about.com/od/exc...320vlookup.htm

This returns the letters: =LEFT(A1,FIND("-",A1)-1)
This returns the number: =--MID(A1,FIND("-",A1)+1,99)
best wishes
--
Bernard Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme

"bmac" wrote in message
...
Hello, I am using the vlookup function. I have values that have three to
nine
text characters followed by numbers. Examples are COM-123, COM-124,
ABCD-12,
ABCD-13, etc,. The number of letters may be 2-9. I want to modfiy my
lookup
formula so that COM-123 returns the value COM. Or ABCD-13, returns the
value
ABCD.

Any help appreciated.

.