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How to move last character to front of a cell or another column in Excel?

Author Sun Last modified

For instance, suppose you have a list of data containing names, sex, and birth year. If your task is to move the birth year to the front, as shown in the screenshot below, here are some quick methods to do it in Excel.
A screenshot of example data showing names with birth years to move

Move last n characters to front of a cell or another column

Move first n characters to end of a cell or another column

Move last n characters to front of a cell or another column

To move last n characters to front of a cell

Select a blank cell which you will put the result, type this formula =RIGHT(A2,4)&" " &LEFT(A2, LEN(A2)-4 ), press Enter key, and drag the fill handle down to apply the formula to the cells.
A screenshot showing the formula to move the last characters to the front of a cell in Excel

Extract last n characters to front in another column

Select a blank cell which you will place the extracted characters, type this formula =RIGHT(A2,4), press Enter key, and drag fill handle over the cells to apply this formula.
A screenshot showing the formula to extract the last characters to another column in Excel

Move first n characters to end of a cell or another column

If you want to move the first n characters to the end of a cell or another column, I also have some formulas to finish it.

Move first n characters to end in a cell

Select a blank cell which you will put the result, type this formula =RIGHT(A2,(LEN(A2)-4))&" "&LEFT(A2,4), press Enter key, and drag the fill handle down to apply the formula to the cells.
A screenshot of the formula to move the first characters to the end of a cell in Excel

Extract first n characters to another column

Select a blank cell which you will place the extracted characters, type this formula =LEFT(A2,4), press Enter key, and drag fill handle over the cells to apply this formula.
A screenshot showing the formula to extract the first characters to another column in Excel

Note: In above formulas, A2 is the cell with the original data, and 4 indicates the number of characters to move (last or first). Adjust these values as needed.

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