I have been given a list of 2080 employees with there employee number
81SIMOPC. All I need is the number preceding the letters. The employee
number is in column A, is there any formula which would return just the 2
numbers at the beginning of the employee number in column B?

This should give you the first two characters in the cell.

=LEFT(A1,2)

If there are times the numbers are in a different position than that,
explain the differences and we'll adjust, but that's the basic answer.


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JBeaucaire
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Hello,

If you want to get a number, I suggest
=--Left(a1,2)
to extract a 2-digit number or, to be on the *very* safe side,
=--regexpreplace(A1,"^\D*(\d+).*$","$1")

The UDF regexpreplace you can find he
http://www.sulprobil.com/html/regexp.html

Regards,
Bernd

Extracting the First Two Numbers of an Employee Number in Excel

To extract the first two numbers of an employee number in Excel, follow these steps:

1. Select the cell in column B where you want to display the first two numbers of the employee number.
2. Type the following formula into the formula bar:
   Formula:

   =LEFT(A1,2) 

3. Press Enter on your keyboard.

The formula uses the LEFT function to extract the first two characters from the cell in column A where the employee number is located. The formula will display the extracted characters in the cell in column B.

Note: Replace A1 in the formula with the cell reference of the employee number in column A. Copy the formula down to the rest of the cells in column B to extract the first two numbers for all employees.