I have the following problem, please help me out:

I have text strings in the following format:

xxxxxxxxx-yyyyyyyyyyyy
xxx-yyyyyyyyyyy

I want to extract the 1st parts from the above strings (i.e. xxxxxx
part). Using the simple LEFT function is out of question as the string
length varies. The only thing that is consistent among these strings is
that the 1st Parts and 2nd Parts are seperated by a "-". Is there a way
to tell excel to extract everything before the "-"? I imagine FIND
fucntion will be used to find the "-" in the string, but what then ????
:(


--
anar_baku
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anar_baku's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=18259
View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=483147

Assume strings in A1 down
Put in say, B1: =LEFT(A1,SEARCH("-",A1)-1)
Copy B1 down
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
Singapore, GMT+8
xdemechanik
http://savefile.com/projects/236895
--
"anar_baku" wrote in
message ...

I have the following problem, please help me out:

I have text strings in the following format:

xxxxxxxxx-yyyyyyyyyyyy
xxx-yyyyyyyyyyy

I want to extract the 1st parts from the above strings (i.e. xxxxxx
part). Using the simple LEFT function is out of question as the string
length varies. The only thing that is consistent among these strings is
that the 1st Parts and 2nd Parts are seperated by a "-". Is there a way
to tell excel to extract everything before the "-"? I imagine FIND
fucntion will be used to find the "-" in the string, but what then ????
:(


--
anar_baku
------------------------------------------------------------------------
anar_baku's Profile:
http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=18259
View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=483147

Hey Max,

You could've used Find() and made the OP feel good, in that (s)he at least
picked the right function.<bg
--

Regards,

RD
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Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit !
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"Max" wrote in message
...
Assume strings in A1 down
Put in say, B1: =LEFT(A1,SEARCH("-",A1)-1)
Copy B1 down
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
Singapore, GMT+8
xdemechanik
http://savefile.com/projects/236895
--
"anar_baku" wrote in
message ...

I have the following problem, please help me out:

I have text strings in the following format:

xxxxxxxxx-yyyyyyyyyyyy
xxx-yyyyyyyyyyy

I want to extract the 1st parts from the above strings (i.e. xxxxxx
part). Using the simple LEFT function is out of question as the string
length varies. The only thing that is consistent among these strings is
that the 1st Parts and 2nd Parts are seperated by a "-". Is there a way
to tell excel to extract everything before the "-"? I imagine FIND
fucntion will be used to find the "-" in the string, but what then ????
:(


--
anar_baku
------------------------------------------------------------------------
anar_baku's Profile:
http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=18259
View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=483147

Thanks guys, this worked!


--
anar_baku
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anar_baku's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=18259
View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=483147

You're welcome !

As RD said <g, here we could have used FIND instead of SEARCH

FIND is case sensitive while SEARCH is not,
but it doesn't matter here since we're looking for the "-", not alphas
--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
---
Singapore, GMT+8
xdemechanik
http://savefile.com/projects/236895
--
"anar_baku" wrote
in message ...

Thanks guys, this worked!