How to Use LEFT, MID, RIGHT, and FIND Functions in Excel

Excel’s LEFT, MID, RIGHT, and FIND functions are powerful tools for extracting specific parts of text strings from cells. They are particularly useful for parsing data, cleaning text, and creating dynamic formulas for data manipulation.

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1. LEFT Function

The LEFT function extracts a specific number of characters from the start (left) of a text string.

Syntax:

=LEFT(text, [num_chars])

• text: The text string from which you want to extract characters.
• num_chars (optional): The number of characters you want to extract. If omitted, Excel will return just the first character.

2. MID Function

The MID function extracts characters from the middle of a text string, starting at a specified position.

Syntax:

=MID(text, start_num, num_chars)

• text: The text string from which you want to extract characters.
• start_num: The position of the first character you want to extract.
• num_chars: The number of characters to extract.

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3. RIGHT Function

The RIGHT function extracts a specified number of characters from the end (right) of a text string.

Syntax:

=RIGHT(text, [num_chars])

• text: The text string from which you want to extract characters.
• num_chars (optional): The number of characters you want to extract from the right. If omitted, Excel will return the last character only.

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4. FIND Function

The FIND function locates the position of a specific character or substring within a text string. This function is case-sensitive and returns an error if the substring is not found.

Syntax:

=FIND(find_text, within_text, [start_num])

• find_text: The character or substring you want to locate.
• within_text: The text string in which you want to search.
• start_num (optional): The character position to start the search (default is 1).

Using Excel’s LEFT, MID, RIGHT, and FIND functions can significantly enhance your data extraction and text manipulation capabilities. Experiment with these functions to unlock powerful data insights and improve your data-cleaning efficiency!