In Excel, the Left function allows you to extract a substring from a string, starting from the left-most character.

The syntax for the Left function is:

Left( text, number_of_characters )

text is the string that you wish to extract from.

number_of_characters indicates the number of characters that you wish to extract starting from the left-most character.

For example:

Let's take a look at an example:

Based on the Excel spreadsheet above:

=Left(A1, 5)	would return "Alpha"
=Left(A2, 8)	would return "techonth"
=Left("Excel", 2)	would return "Ex"

The Right function extracts a substring from a string starting from the right-most character.

The syntax for the Right function is:

Right( text, number_of_characters )

text is the string that you wish to extract from.

number_of_characters indicates the number of characters that you wish to extract starting from the right-most character.

Applies To:

• Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel XP, Excel 2000

For example:

Let's take a look at an example:

Based on the Excel spreadsheet above:

=Right(A1, 4)	would return "soup"
=Right(A2, 6)	would return "thenet"
=Right("Excel", 3)	would return "cel"

the Mid function extracts a substring from a string (starting at any position).

The syntax for the Mid function is:

Mid( text, start_position, number_of_characters )

text is the string that you wish to extract from.

start_position indicates the position in the string that you will begin extracting from. The first position in the string is 1.

number_of_characters indicates the number of characters that you wish to extract.

Applies To:

• Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel XP, Excel 2000

For example:

Let's take a look at an example:

Based on the Excel spreadsheet above:

=Mid(A1, 5, 4)	would return "abet"
=Mid(A2, 7, 3)	would return "The"
=Mid("Excel", 1, 2)	would return "Ex"