Text Functions in Excel

Excel has many functions to offer when it comes to manipulating text strings.
Join Strings
To join strings use the & operator.
Note: instead of using the & operator use the CONCATENATE function in Excel.
LEFTTo extract the leftmost characters from a string use the LEFT function.
To extract the rightmost characters from a string use the RIGHT function.
To extract a substring starting in the middle of a string use the MID function.
Note: started at position 5 (p) with length 3.
LENTo get the length of a string use the LEN function.
Note: space (position 8) included!
FINDTo find the position of a substring in a string use the FIND function.
Note: string "am" found at position 3. Visit our page about the FIND function for more examples.
SUBSTITUTETo replace existing text with new text in a string use the SUBSTITUTE function.
Written by
Jason Howie
Founder, FormulasHQ
A formula nerd with a passion for numbers and equations. Writes about Excel, Google Sheets, VBA, regex, and Salesforce formulas — for people who spend their day in spreadsheets.