How to remove all characters after the first/last space from cells in Excel?
For example you want to remove all characters after the last space from cells, how could you easily get it done in Excel? And what if removing all characters after the first space? There are some solutions for you:
- Remove all characters after the first/last space with formula
- Remove all characters after the last space with User Defined Function
- Remove all characters after the first space with Kutools for Excel
Remove all characters after the first/last space with formulas
This section will introduce formulas to remove all characters after the first or last space in Excel. Please do as follows:
Remove all characters after the last space
Select a blank cell, enter the formula =LEFT(A2,FIND("^^",SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","^^",LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))))-1) (A2 is the cell where you will remove all characters after the last space ) into it, and drag the Fill Handle to the range as you need.
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And then you will see all characters after the last space are removed in each cell. See screenshot:
Remove all characters after the first space
Select a blank cell, enter the formula =LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1) (A2 is the cell where you will remove all characters after the first space) into it, and the drag the Fill Handle down to the range as you need.
Easily split cells to multiple cells/rows (a column list) in Excel
Normally Excel users can apply the Text to Columns feature to split one cell to multiple columns, but there is no directly method to convert one cell to multiple rows. However, Kutools for Excel’s Split Cells utility can help you easily get it done as below screenshot shown.

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Remove all characters after the last space with User Defined Function
You can also apply a User Defined Function to remove all characters after the last space from cells in Excel. Please do as follows:
1. Press Alt + F11 keys simultaneously to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.
2. Click Insert > Module, and then copy and paste the following code into the new Module window.
VBA: Remove all characters after the last space in Excel
Function RemoveAfterLastSpace(Txt As String) As String
With CreateObject("VBScript.RegExp")
.Pattern = "\s+\w+$"
RemoveAfterLastSpace = .Replace(Txt, "")
End With
End Function
3. Save the User Defined Function and close the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.
4. Select a blank cell, enter the formula =RemoveAfterLastSpace(A2) (A2 is the cell where you will remove all characters after the last space) into it, and the drag the Fill Handle to the range as you need.
And then you will see all characters after the last space are removed from each cell. See screenshot:
Remove all characters after the first space with Kutools for Excel
This method will introduce Kutools for Excel’s Split Names utility to quickly remove all characters after the first space from cells in Excel.
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1. Select the range that you will remove all characters after the first space from each cell, and click Kutools > Text > Split Names. See screenshot:
2. In the opening Split Names dialog box, only check the First Name option, and click the Ok button.
3. And then specify the first cell of destination range into the second Split Names dialog box, and click the OK button.
And now you will see all characters are removed after the first space from each cell. See screenshot:
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Demo
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Easily remove numbers, letter, or special characters (bullets) from text string in Excel
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