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How to extract text between two characters in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
=MID(A2, FIND("[", A2) + 1, FIND("]", A2) - FIND("[", A2) - 1)✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Full Text | Extracted Text |
| Example [text] here | |
| Another [example] text | |
| Data [needed] for analysis |
=MID(A2, FIND("[", A2) + 1, FIND("]", A2) - FIND("[", A2) - 1)→text
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Step by step
- 1Identify the cell containing the text from which you want to extract information.
- 2Determine the characters that bound the text you wish to extract.
- 3Use the MID, FIND functions to construct your formula.
Tips
- Ensure that the characters used as delimiters do not appear elsewhere in the text unless intended.
- Adjust the formula if your text uses different or multiple sets of delimiters.
- Be cautious with locale settings as they can affect function syntax.
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Frequently asked
What if the delimiter characters are not present in the text?
The formula will return an error. You may need to add error handling using IFERROR.
Can this method be used for more complex text extraction?
Yes, but it might require combining multiple functions like LEFT, RIGHT, and SUBSTITUTE.
Does this work with special characters as delimiters?
Yes, it works with any character, including special ones, as long as they are correctly referenced in the formula.
More on Text manipulation
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Split a full name or any delimited text into separate columns. Google Sheets uses SPLIT; Excel uses TEXTSPLIT — here is each.
How-toHow to remove extra spaces
Clean leading, trailing, and double spaces with TRIM — the usual fix for lookups that fail on values that look identical.
How-toHow to convert text to a number
Turn numbers stored as text into real numbers with VALUE or by multiplying by 1 — the fix for sums that ignore values.
How-toHow to extract the domain from an email address
Pull everything after the @ from an email using FIND and MID. Works the same in Excel and Google Sheets.
How-toHow to extract the first name from a full name
Get the first name from a full name with LEFT and FIND, splitting on the first space. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
How-toHow to add leading zeros
Pad numbers to a fixed width with leading zeros using TEXT, or a custom number format. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.