If need to generate a dynamic series of dates with a formula that increase by one year from a single start date, you can do so with a formula that uses the DAY, MONTH, YEAR, and DATE functions. Formula =DATE(YEAR(date)+1,MONTH(date),DAY(date)) Explanation In the example, B6 is the hard-coded start date and the formula in B7 …
To abbreviate text that contains capital letters, you can try this array formula based on the TEXTJOIN function, which is new in Excel 2016. You can use this approach to create initials from names, or to create acronyms. Only capital letters will survive this formula, so the source text must include capitalized words. You can …
To add a line break with a formula, you can use the concatenation operator (&) along with the CHAR function. Note: make sure you have text wrap enabled on cells that contain line breaks. Formula =”text”&CHAR(10)&”text” Explanation In the example shown the formula in E4 is: =B4&CHAR(10)&C4&CHAR(10)&D4 How this formula works This formula “glues together” …
To add a line break taking into account the current OS (Mac or Windows), you can use the INFO function to test the system and then return the correct break character — CHAR(10) for Windows, CHAR(13) for Mac. Note: make sure you have text wrap enabled on cells that contain line breaks. Formula =IF(INFO(“system”)=”mac”,CHAR(13),CHAR(10)) Explanation The character …
This tutorial shows how to capitalize first letter in Excel. In Microsoft office word it is called sentence case, in Excel to capitalize the first letter in a word or string, you can use a formula based on the LEFT, MID, and LEN functions. Formula =UPPER(LEFT(A1))&MID(A1,2,LEN(A1)) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in C5 is: …
If you want to test a cell to see if it contains all items in a list, you can do so with a formula that uses the SEARCH function, with help from the ISNUMBER, SUMPRODUCT, and COUNTA functions. Case study: Let’s say you have a list of text strings in the range B5:B8, and you want …
To test if a cell (or any text string) contains a number, you can use the FIND function together with the COUNT function. In the generic form of the formula (above), A1 represents the cell you are testing. The numbers to be checked (numbers between 0-9) are supplied as an array. Formula =COUNT(FIND({0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9},A1))>0 Explanation In …
This tutorial shows how to check if cell contains one of many things in Excel using example below: If you want to test a cell to see if it contains one of several things, you can do so with a formula that uses the SEARCH function, with help from the ISNUMBER and SUMPRODUCT functions. Formula =SUMPRODUCT(–ISNUMBER(SEARCH(things,A1)))>0 …
To test a cell to see if contains certain words but not others, you can use an array formula based on the COUNT and SEARCH functions, wrapped in the AND function. Formula {=AND(COUNT(SEARCH(inc,A1))>0,COUNT(SEARCH(exc,A1))=0)} Explanation In the example shown, the formula in C5 is: {=AND(COUNT(SEARCH(inc,B5))>0,COUNT(SEARCH(exc,B5))=0)} This formula returns TRUE when B5 contains any of the words …
If you have a list of things (words, substrings, etc) and want to find out which of these things appear in a cell, you can build a simple table and use a formula based on the SEARCH function. Setup Suppose you have a cells that contain text that mentions various colors, and you want to …
One way to clean up and reformat telephone numbers is to strip out all extraneous characters, then apply Excel’s built-in telephone number format. Formula =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE (SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1,”(“,””), “)”,””),”-“,””),” “,””),”.”,””)+0 Note that the cell appears in the middle, with function names above and substitutions below. Not only does this make the formula easier to read, it also …
If you need to compare two text strings in Excel to determine if they’re equal, you can use the EXACT function. Formula =EXACT(text1, text2) Explanation For example, if you want to compare A2 with B2, use: =EXACT(A2,B2) If the two strings are identical, EXACT will return TRUE. If not, EXACT will return FALSE. You can …
To display a conditional message, without the IF function, you can use boolean logic and the REPT function. Formula =REPT(“message”,logical test) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in D5 (copied down) is: =REPT(“low”,C5<100) If the value in column C is less than 100, the formula returns “low”. If not, the formula returns an empty string (“”), which …
To convert numbers into text values, you can use the TEXT function. Normally, you want to maintain numeric values in Excel, because they can be used in formulas with other numbers. However, there are situations where converting numbers to text makes sense. For example, you might want to perform a lookup on numbers using wildcards, which …
To convert a string to an array that contains one item for each letter, you can use an array formula based on the MID, ROW, LEN and INDIRECT functions. This can sometimes be useful inside other formulas that manipulate text at the character level. Formula {=MID(string,ROW(INDIRECT(“1:”&LEN(string))),1)} Note: this is an array formula and must be …
To convert simple text values to numbers, you can use the the VALUE function, or simply add zero as described below. Formula =VALUE(A1) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in C5 is: =VALUE(B5) Background Sometimes Excel ends up with text in a cell, when you really want a number. There are many reasons this …
To count the number of specific words or keywords that appear in a given cell, you can use a formula based on the SEARCH, ISNUMBER, and SUMPRODUCT functions. Formula =SUMPRODUCT(–ISNUMBER(SEARCH(keywords,A1))) Note: if a keyword appears more than once in a given cell, it will only be counted once. In other words, the formula only counts …
This tutorial shows how to count line breaks in cell in Excel worksheet using example below. To count total lines in a cell, you can use a formula based on the LEN, SUBSTITUTE, and CHAR functions. Formula =LEN(B5)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B5,CHAR(10),””))+1 Explanation In the example, we are using this formula: =LEN(B5)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B5,CHAR(10),””))+1 How the formula works First, the LEN function counts …
To count the total words in a cell, you can use a formula based on the LEN and SUBSTITUTE functions. Formula =LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1,” “,””))+1 Explanation In the example shown, C3 contains this formula: =LEN(TRIM(B3))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B3,” “,””))+1 How the formula works SUBSTITUTE removes all spaces from the text, then LEN calculates the length of the text without spaces. This …
If you want to count the total words in a range of cells, you can do with a formula that uses LEN and SUBSTITUTE, along with the SUMPRODUCT function. Formula =SUMPRODUCT(LEN(TRIM(range))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(range,” “,””))+1) Note: The formula inside SUMPRODUCT will return 1 even if a cell is empty. If you need to guard against this problem, you can …
To separate text and numbers, you can use a formula based on the FIND function, the MIN function, and the LEN function with the LEFT or RIGHT function, depending on whether you want to extract the text or the number. Formula =MIN(FIND({0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9},A1&”0123456789″)) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in C5 is: =MIN(FIND({0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9},B5&”0123456789″)) which returns …
To split a number from a unit value, you need to determine the position of the last number. If you add 1 to that position, you have the start of the unit text. Note: these is an experimental formula that uses a hard coded array constant, set down here for reference and comment. Casually tested …
If you have worksheet that contains text dimensions (i.e. “50 ft x 200 ft” etc.) you can split the into two parts with formulas that use several text functions. Explanation Background A common annoyance with data is that it may be represented as text instead of numbers. This is especially common with dimensions, which may …
To split a text string at a certain character, you can use a combination of the LEFT, RIGHT, LEN, and FIND functions. Formula =LEFT(text,FIND(character,text)-1) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in C5 is: =LEFT(B5,FIND(“_”,B5)-1) And the formula in D5 is: =RIGHT(B5,LEN(B5)-FIND(“_”,B5)) How these formulas work The first formula uses the FIND function to locate …
To remove the protocol (i.e. http://, ftp://, etc.) and trailing slash from a URL, you can use a formula based on the MID, FIND, and LEN functions. Formula =MID(url,FIND(“//”,url)+2,LEN(url)-FIND(“//”,url)-1-(RIGHT(url)=”/”)) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in C5 is: =MID(B4,FIND(“//”,B4)+2,LEN(B4)-FIND(“//”,B4)-1-(RIGHT(B4)=”/”)) How this formula works The core of this formula is the MID function, which extracts …
To build email addresses using first and last names, you can use a formula that concatenates values, with help from the LOWER and LEFT functions as needed. See example below: Formula =LOWER(LEFT(first)&last)&”@domain.com” Explanation In the example shown, the formula in D5 is: =LOWER(LEFT(C5)&B5)&”@”&”acme.com” How this formula works For a name like “Tim Brown”, this formula …
To remove a trailing slash from a URL or path, you can use a formula based on the LEFT and LEN functions. Formula =LEFT(url,LEN(B4)-(RIGHT(url)=”/”)) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in cell C6 is: =LEFT(B4,LEN(B4)-(RIGHT(B4)=”/”)) How this formula works At the core, this formula uses the LEFT function to return text starting from the …
To extract the top level domain (called “TLD”) from a list of domain names or email addresses, you can use a rather complex formula that uses several functions. In the formula below, domain represents a domain or email address in normal “dot” syntax. Formula =RIGHT(domain,LEN(domain)-FIND(“*”,SUBSTITUTE(domain,”.”,”*”, LEN(domain)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(domain,”.”,””))))) Explanation In the example, the active cell contains this formula: …
To extract the page, or the part of a path after the last forward slash (/), you can use a formula based on several Excel functions: TRIM, RIGHT, SUBSTITUTE, and REPT. Formula =TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(url,”/”,REPT(” “,100)),100)) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in C5 is: =TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(B5,”/”,REPT(” “,100)),100)) How this formula works At the core, this formula …
If want to extract the name part of an email address, you can do so with a formula that uses the LEFT and FIND functions. In the formula below, email represents the email address you are working with. Formula =LEFT(email,FIND(“@”,email)-1) Explanation In the example, we are using this formula: =LEFT(C4,FIND(“@”,C4)-1) Here’s how the formula works: …
If you want to extract the domain name from a complete URL, you can do so with a formula that uses the LEFT and FIND functions. See example: In the formula below, url is the the URL you are working with. Formula =LEFT(url,FIND(“/”,url,9)) Explanation In the example, we are using this formula: =LEFT(B4,FIND(“/”,B4,9)) Here’s how …
Atimes a user may want to extract the domain from an email address, the RIGHT, LEN, and FIND functions can be used to achieve that. In the formula below, email represents the email address you are working with. Formula =RIGHT(email,LEN(email)-FIND(“@”,email)) Explanation In the example, we are using this formula: =RIGHT(C4,LEN(C4)-FIND(“@”,C4)) Here’s how the formula works …
Atimes a user may want to build an email address from a first and last name. In that case, use a formula based on simple concatenation with help from the LEFT and LOWER functions. See illustration below: Formula =LOWER(LEFT(first)&last&”@”&domain) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in D5 is: =LOWER(LEFT(B5)&C5&”@”&$G$6) How this formula works Working …
If you need to clean up names that are not in a proper case, you can use a simple formula based on PROPER functions. Formula =PROPER(name) Explanation In the example the formula in C5 is: =PROPER(B5) How this formula works The PROPER function automatically reformats text so that all words are capitalized. At the same …
If you need to find basic overtime calculation formula in Excel then this tutorials is for you. See the example below. To calculate overtime and pay associated with overtime, you can use the formulas explained on this page. Formula =(reg_hrs*rate)+(ot_hrs*rate*1.5) Explanation In formula in cell I5 is: =(F5*H5)+(G5*H5*1.5) How this formula works Note: it’s important …
It you need to add days and exclude certain days of week in Excel then this tutorials is for you. To add days to a date while excluding specific days (i.e. exclude Tuesdays and Thursdays, Wednesdays only, etc.) you can use the WORKDAY.INTL function with a special pattern code see the example below: Formula =WORKDAY.INTL(date,days,”pattern”) Explanation …
It you need to add days to date in Excel then this tutorials is for you. See example below: To add a given number of years to a date, you can use the EDATE function. Formula =date+days Explanation In the example shown, the formula in D5 is: =B5+C5 How this formula works Dates in Excel are …
It you need to add decimal hours to time in Excel then this tutorials is for you. See example below. To add a given number of hours to a time, you can add hours divided by 24, or use the TIME function. Formula =time+(hours/24) Explanation In the example shown, the formula in D5 is: =B5+(C5/24) Note: make …
This tutorial shows how to Convert date string to date time in Excel using example below. To convert a date string to a datetime (date with time) you can parse the text into separate components then build a proper datetime. When date information from other systems is pasted or imported to Excel, it may not …
This tutorial shows how to Convert date to Julian format in Excel using example below. If you need to convert a date to a Julian date format in Excel, you can do so by building a formula that uses the TEXT, YEAR, and DATE functions. Formula =YEAR(date)&TEXT(date-DATE(YEAR(date),1,0),”000″) Explanation Background “Julian date format” refers to a …