Extract last two words from a cell in Excel
This tutorial explains how to use formula to extract the last two words from a cell in Excel.
How to extract the last two words from a cell in Excel?
Generic formula
=MID(cell,FIND("@",SUBSTITUTE(cell," ","@",LEN(cell)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(cell," ",""))-1))+1,100)
Argument
Cell: The cell for which you want to extract the last two words.
How to use this formula?
As the below screenshot shown, you have a list of text strings, and want to extract the last two words from each cell in the list, please do as follows.
1. Select a blank cell to output the result.
2. Enter the below formula into it and press the Enter key. And then drag the Fill Handle to apply the formula to other cells. See below screenshot:
=MID(B5,FIND("@",SUBSTITUTE(B5," ","@",LEN(B5)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B5," ",""))-1))+1,100)
Note: In the formula, please replace the B5 with the cell you need.
How this formula works?
=MID(B5,FIND("@",SUBSTITUTE(B5," ","@",LEN(B5)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B5," ",""))-1))+1,100)
1. LEN(B5)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B5," ","")): To calculate the number of spaces in cell B5. The result is 4.
- 1.1) LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B5," ","")): The SUBSTITUTE function removes all spaces from cell B5, and then the LEN function calculates the length for the text string without spaces. Here the result is 19;
- 1.2) LEN(B5): This LEN function calculates the total length for the text string with spaces and returns the result as 23.
- 2.3) After that, the length for the text string with spaces subtracts the length for the text string without spaces and finally get the number of spaces in cell B5: 23-19=4.
2. SUBSTITUTE(B5," ","@",4-1)): Replace the second last space with a given character such as @ in this case.
- SUBSTITUTE(B5," ","@",3): Here the SUBSTITUTE function replaces the third space (this is also the second last space) in B5 with “@”. The result is: Excel is an useful@tool.
3. FIND("@","Excel is an useful@tool"): Find the location of character "@". The result of find is 12.
4. MID(B5,12+1,100): The MID function extracts a specific number of characters starting at the position of 13 from the text string in B5.
- Here number 100 can guarantee you the number of characters is large enough.
Related functions
Excel LEN function
The LEN function returns the number of characters in a text string.
Excel SUBSTITUTE function
The SUBSTITUTE function replaces text or characters within a text string with another text or characters.
Excel MID function
The MID function is used to find and return a specific number of characters from the middle of given text string.
Excel FIND function
The FIND function is used to find a string within another string, and returns the starting position of the string inside another one.
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