Text & Cleanup

Excel formula for Extract the first N characters

Take a fixed number of characters from the start of a cell.

Copy this formula

=LEFT(A2, 5)

How the formula works

LEFT returns the first N characters; RIGHT returns the last N; MID returns characters from a chosen start point. They're the building blocks for slicing codes, prefixes, and fixed-width data.

Examples

=RIGHT(A2, 4)→2026

Last four characters, e.g. a year.

=LEFT("INV-2026-0042", 3)→INV

The first three characters of a code.

=LEFT(A2, FIND("-", A2)-1)→INV

Takes everything before the first hyphen, whatever its length.

Other ways to do this

From the middle

=MID(A2, 4, 3)

3 characters starting at position 4.

FAQ

How do I drop the last few characters?

Use =LEFT(A2, LEN(A2)-3) to remove the final three characters.

Why does LEFT return text when the cell holds a number?

LEFT always returns text. Wrap it in VALUE to get a number back: =VALUE(LEFT(A2, 3)).

How do I remove the first few characters instead?

Use =RIGHT(A2, LEN(A2)-3) or =MID(A2, 4, LEN(A2)) to drop the first three characters.

Does LEFT work on dates?

It works on the underlying serial number, not the displayed date. Convert first: =LEFT(TEXT(A2, "yyyy-mm-dd"), 4) returns the year.

Related formulas

Extract text between two characters Split text into separate columns

Functions used

LEFT RIGHT MID

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