Tip: Other languages are Google-Translated. You can visit the English version of this link.
Log in
x
or
x
x
Register
x

or

 How to extract first two or n words from text string?

If you have a list of text strings which are separated by space, and now, you want to extract first three or n words from the cell value to get the following screenshot result. This article, I will introduce some formulas to extract first two or n words from text string in Excel.

doc extract first 2 words 1

Extract first two or n words from text string with formulas

Split Cell values into multiple columns and rows by specific separator:

With Kutools for Excel’s Split Cells utility, you can quickly split text string in a cell into multiple columns or rows by space, comma, new line and any other separators you specified.

doc split cells-1-1

arrow blue right bubble Extract first two or n words from text string with formulas

In this example, I will extract first three words from the cell, please apply the following formulas:

Enter any one of the following formulas into a blank cell, C2, for instance, and then drag the fill handle down to the cells that you want to contain this formula, and all the first 3 words have been extracted from the corresponding cells, see screenshot:

=TRIM(LEFT(A2, FIND("~",SUBSTITUTE(A2, " ", "~",3)&"~")))

=LEFT(TRIM(A2),FIND("^",SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(A2)&" "," ","^",3))-1)

doc extract first 2 words 2

Note: If your text strings in column A, and the number of words desired in column B, to extract the different number of first n words, you can apply this formula: =TRIM(LEFT(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",REPT(" ",1000),B2),1000)), and you will get the following result as you need.

doc extract first 2 words 3

Excel Productivity Tools

Ribbon of Excel (with Kutools for Excel installed)

300+ Advanced Features Increase Your Productivity by 70%, and Help You To Stand Out From Crowd!

Would you like to complete your daily work quickly and perfectly? Kutools For Excel brings 300+ cool and powerful advanced features (Combine workbooks, sum by color, split cell contents, convert date, and so on...) for 1500+ work scenarios, helps you solve 80% Excel problems.

  • Deal with all complicated tasks in seconds, help to enhance your work ability, get success from the fierce competition, and never worry about being fired.
  • Save a lot of work time, leave much time for you to love and care the family and enjoy a comfortable life now.
  • Reduce thousands of keyboard and mouse clicks every day, relieve your tired eyes and hands, and give you a healthy body.
  • Become an Excel expert in 3 minutes, and get admiring glance from your colleagues or friends.
  • No longer need to remember any painful formulas and VBA codes, have a relaxing and pleasant mind, give you a thrill you've never had before.
  • Spend only $39, but worth than $4000 training of others. Being used by 110,000 elites and 300+ well-known companies.
  • 60-day unlimited free trial. 60-day money back guarantee. Free upgrade and support for 2 years. Buy once, use forever.
  • Change the way you work now, and give you a better life immediately!
Read More Download Now Purchase

Office Tab Brings Efficient And Handy Tabs to Office (include Excel), Just Like Chrome, Firefox, And New IE

  • Increases your productivity by 50% when viewing and editing multiple documents.
  • Reduce hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day, say goodbye to mouse hand.
  • Open and create documents in new tabs of same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Help you work faster and easily stand out from the crowd! One second to switch between dozens of open documents!
Read More Download Now Purchase
Say something here...
symbols left.
You are guest ( Sign Up? )
or post as a guest, but your post won't be published automatically.
Loading comment... The comment will be refreshed after 00:00.
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Felipe · 5 months ago
    It works just fine for me. However, I am trying to understand the logic behind this formula:

    =TRIM(LEFT(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",REPT(" ",1000),B2),1000))


    Can somebody please explain it to me like I am 5?

    Cheers,
English English
en Englishaf Afrikaanssq Shqipar العربيةhy Հայերենaz Azərbaycan dilieu Euskarabe Беларуская моваbg Българскиca Catalàzh-CN 简体中文zh-TW 繁體中文hr Hrvatskics Čeština‎da Dansknl Nederlandset Eestitl Filipinofi Suomifr Françaisgl Galegoka ქართულიde Deutschel Ελληνικάht Kreyol ayisyeniw עִבְרִיתhi हिन्दीhu Magyaris Íslenskaid Bahasa Indonesiaga Gaeligeit Italianoja 日本語ko 한국어lv Latviešu valodalt Lietuvių kalbamk Македонски јазикms Bahasa Melayumt Malteseno Norsk bokmålfa فارسیpl Polskipt Portuguêsro Românăru Русскийsr Српски језикsk Slovenčinasl Slovenščinaes Españolsw Kiswahilisv Svenskath ไทยtr Türkçeuk Українськаur اردوvi Tiếng Việtcy Cymraegyi יידיש