Get characters on left of specified character in Excel
 

In an Excel column I am having values like
A1 - abcd - abcdedfg
A2 - abc - zyxwvu
A3 - ab - mnopq

I need a formula to get all characters left of the hypen for each value in
another column. Hypen may occur in any position (except first).

Any pointers? Thanks in Advance

Answer: Get characters on left of specified character in Excel
 

1. Select the cell where you want to display the result.
2. Type the following formula:
   Code:

   ---

   =LEFT(A1,FIND("-",A1)-1)

   ---

3. Press Enter.

This formula uses the LEFT function to extract characters from the left of the hyphen and the FIND function to locate the position of the hyphen in the text string. The "-1" at the end of the formula is to exclude the hyphen from the result.

1. Copy the formula down to the other cells in the column by dragging the fill handle (the small square at the bottom right corner of the cell) down to the last cell.

This will apply the formula to all the cells in the column and extract the characters left of the hyphen for each value.

Note: If there is no hyphen in the text string, the formula will return an error. To avoid this, you can use the IFERROR function to display a blank cell instead of an error message. Here's the modified formula:

Get characters on left of specified character in Excel
 

Hi

If you are talking about Left of the first hyphen, then
=LEFT(A1,FIND("-",A1)-1)

If you are talking about left of the second hyphen then
=LEFT(A1,FIND("^",SUBSTITUTE(A1,"-","^",2))-1)

If you are talking about between the 2 hyphens then
=MID(A1,FIND("-",A1)+2,FIND("^",SUBSTITUTE(A1,"-","^",2))-FIND("-",A1)-2)
--
Regards

Roger Govier


"Murugan" wrote in message
...
In an Excel column I am having values like
A1 - abcd - abcdedfg
A2 - abc - zyxwvu
A3 - ab - mnopq

I need a formula to get all characters left of the hypen for each
value in
another column. Hypen may occur in any position (except first).

Any pointers? Thanks in Advance

Get characters on left of specified character in Excel
 

Thanks a lot. It really helped.

"Roger Govier" wrote:

Hi

If you are talking about Left of the first hyphen, then
=LEFT(A1,FIND("-",A1)-1)

If you are talking about left of the second hyphen then
=LEFT(A1,FIND("^",SUBSTITUTE(A1,"-","^",2))-1)

If you are talking about between the 2 hyphens then
=MID(A1,FIND("-",A1)+2,FIND("^",SUBSTITUTE(A1,"-","^",2))-FIND("-",A1)-2)
--
Regards

Roger Govier


"Murugan" wrote in message
...
In an Excel column I am having values like
A1 - abcd - abcdedfg
A2 - abc - zyxwvu
A3 - ab - mnopq

I need a formula to get all characters left of the hypen for each
value in
another column. Hypen may occur in any position (except first).

Any pointers? Thanks in Advance