Remove text based on variable position in Excel
This tutorial explains how to remove text or characters from a cell when it locates in variable position.
How to remove text from a cell based on variable position?
Generic formula
=REPLACE(old_text,start_num,FIND(find_text,old_text),"")
Arguments
Od_text: The text in which you want to remove some characters. It can be:
- 1. The text enclosed in quotation marks;
- 2. Or a reference to a cell containing the text.
Start_num: Specify the position to start the removal in the old_text.
Find_text: The text (characters) you want to find and remove from the old_text.
How to use this formula?
As the below screenshot shown, how to keep only the texts right after the colon and remove the other unneeded characters?
1. Select a blank cell to output only the texts right after the colon.
2. Enter the below formula into it and press the Enter key.
=REPLACE(B3,1,FIND(":",B3),"")
3. Select the result cell and drag the Fill Handle to apply the formula to other cells. See screenshot:
Tips: If there is a space after the colon, to remove it as well, please apply the below formula.
=REPLACE(B3,1,FIND(":",B3)+1,"")
How this formula works?
=REPLACE(B3,1,FIND(":",B3),"")
- 1. FIND(":",B3): The FIND function finds the position of colon in B3. Here it returns 8 because “:” is the eighth character in the text string “Product: KTE”.
- 2. REPLACE(B3,1,8,""): And then the REPLACE function will replace 8 characters which start with the first character of the text string in B3 with an empty string. Finally it returns “ KTE”.
Related functions
Excel REPLACE function
The REPLACE function in Excel can help you to find and replace characters based on given location from text string with a new text.
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.
Related formulas
Remove line breaks from cells in Excel
This tutorial provides three formulas to help you removing line breaks from specific cells in Excel.
Remove text from cell by matching the content
This article shows you how to use the SUBSTITUTE function to remove part of text string from specified cells by matching content.
Remove text from a cell based on specific position
This tutorial explains how to use formulas to remove text from a cell based on specific position in Excel.
Remove unwanted characters from cell in Excel
You can use the SUBSTITUTE function to remove any unwanted characters from a specific cell in Excel.
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