How to quickly find the position of first letter (alpha) from string in Excel?
If you're working with a list of text strings that contain a mix of letters and numbers in Excel, finding the position of the first letter can be tricky. In this tutorial, we'll show you different methods to quickly identify the position of the first alphabetical character in a string.
Find position of first alpha in string with formulas
Here are some formulas to help you find the position of the first letter in a string.
Select a blank cell which you will place the result, here take B2 for instance, and enter this formula =MATCH(TRUE,ISERROR(VALUE(MID(A2,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A2))),1))),0), hold Shift + Ctrl, and press Enter key to get the result. Then click at B2 and drag auto fill handle to over the cells which need to apply this formula. See screenshot:
Tip: with above formula, if there is no any alpha character, it will display an error value.
In the formula, A2 is the cell where you want to find the first alpha’s position. You can change it as needed.
Find position of first alpha in string with Defined Function
If you usually apply Defined Function, here also has a Defined Function to help you find the first alpha and return to its position.
1. Press Alt + F11 keys to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.
2. Click Insert > Module, and paste below code to the Module script.
Function FirstNonDigit(xStr As String) As Long
'Updateby20220915
Dim xChar As Integer
Dim xPos As Integer
Dim I As Integer
Application.Volatile
For I = 1 To Len(xStr)
xChar = Asc(Mid(xStr, I, 1))
If (xChar <= 90 And xChar >= 65) Or (xChar <= 122 And xChar >= 97) Then
xPos = I
Exit For
End If
Next
FirstNonDigit = xPos
End Function
3. Save the code and go back to the sheet, select a blank cell and enter this formula =FirstNonDigit(A15), press Enter key, and you can find the position of first alpha character.
Extract all alpha from string with Kutools for Excel
But in some other cases, you may want to extract only alpha characters from a mixed string as below screenshot shown. In this situation, you can apply the Remove Characters utility of Kutools for Excel – a handy and helpful add in tool to quickly get it done.
1. Make a copy for the strings you want to extract alpha characters from. See screenshot:
2. Then select the copied strings and click Kutools > Text > Remove Characters. See screenshot:
3. And in the prompt Remove Characters dialog, check Non-alpha option only, you can preview the removed results as you check in the Preview box. See screenshot:
4. Click Ok or Apply. Now only the alpha characters are extracted.
Demo: Extract Text Only From Alphanumeric String In Excel using Kutools for Excel
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