Excel Formula: Split sentence into words

In Excel, as we know, the Text to Columns can split sentence into cells based on the delimiter. But in some times, you want to use a formula to solve the job. Here this tutorial, it provides an array formula can handle it.

Generic formula:

Arguments

How this formula work

Take cell B3 as instance, you can use below formula:

Press Shift + Ctrl + Enter key to extract first word, then drag the fill handle right until all words are extracted.

Explanation

MID function extracts a substring from a text string based on the specified starting position and the number of characters.

ROW function returns the number of row, here we set it to returns an array from 1 to 99.

Then the formula MID(" "&$B2&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1)
=MID(" Class A Grade 3 Lily Core", {1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 50; 51; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59; 60; 61; 62; 63; 64; 65; 66; 67; 68; 69; 70; 71; 72; 73; 74; 75; 76; 77; 78; 79; 80; 81; 82; 83; 84; 85; 86; 87; 88; 89; 90; 91; 92; 93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 98; 99}, 1)
={" ";"C";"l";"a";"s";"s";" ";"A";" ";"G";"r";"a";"d";"e";" ";"3";" ";"L";"i";"l";"y";" ";"C";"o";"r";"e";" ";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";
"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";"";""}

SEARCH function returns the location of the specific character or text from the given text string. If string is not found the function returns an error value.

The formula SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " ")
={1;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;1;#VALUE!;1;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;
#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;1;#VALUE!;1;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;1;
#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;#VALUE!;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;
1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;1;
1;1;1;1;1}

ISERROR function returns TRUE if the value is an error.

Then formula ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " "))
={FALSE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;FALSE;TRUE;FALSE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;
TRUE;FALSE;TRUE;FALSE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;FALSE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;
FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;
FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;
FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;
FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;
FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;
FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;
FALSE}

IF function tests for a specific condition. Here it has three arguments, the first one must be a logical expression, if the first one argument is “TRUE”, then the second argument displayed, and if the first argument is ”FALSE”, the argument 3 displayed.

The formula IF(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " ")), "", ROW($1:$99))
={1;"";"";"";"";"";7;"";9;"";"";"";"";"";15;"";17;"";"";"";"";22;"";"";"";"";27;28;29;30;31;32;33;34;35;
36;37;38;39;40;41;42;43;44;45;46;47;48;49;50;51;52;53;54;55;56;57;58;59;60;61;62;63;
64;65;66;67;68;69;70;71;72;73;74;75;76;77;78;79;80;81;82;83;84;85;86;87;88;89;90;91;92;
93;94;95;96;97;98;99}

SMALL function then returns the smallest value in the array.

COLUMN function returns the number of column which formula appears or returns the column number of given reference.

Then
SMALL(IF(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " ")), "", ROW($1:$99)), COLUMN(A1))
={1}

Then the formula
SMALL(IF(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " ")), "", ROW($1:$99)), COLUMN(A1)+1)-  SMALL(IF(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " ")), "", ROW($1:$99)), COLUMN(A1))
={7-1}
={6}

Then formula
MID(" "&$B3&" ", SMALL(IF(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " ")), "", ROW($1:$99)+1), COLUMN(A1)), SMALL(IF(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " ")), "", ROW($1:$99)), COLUMN(A1)+1)-SMALL(IF(ISERROR(SEARCH(MID(" "&$B3&" ", ROW($1:$99), 1), " ")), "", ROW($1:$99)), COLUMN(A1))-1)
=MID(" "&$B3&" ",2,6-1)
={Class}

Sample File

Click to download sample file

Relative Formulas

• Extract from right until character
  Here introduces the formula to extract text from right side of a given text until a specified character.
• Trim Text To N Words
  Here introduces the formula to extract n words from left side of a text string.
• Add leaing zeros to fix length
  This tutorial provides formulas to add leading zero to make the text at the same length.
• Split dollars and cents
  To split dollars and cents into two columns with formulas in Excel.

Relative Functions

• MID function
  Extract part of text from a cell value based on the location and length.
• COLUMN function
  Returns the number of column which formula appears or returns the column number.
• ROW function
  Get the number of row.
• SEARCH function
  Find the position of a specific character or substring from the given text string.
• IF function
  Test for a specific condition.

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