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How to get the text before a character in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
=LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1)✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Username | |
| alice@example.com | |
| bob@mail.com | |
| carol@test.org | |
| dan@work.io | |
| eve@site.net |
=LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1)→alice
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Step by step
- 1In the destination cell, enter =LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1) — replace "@" with your actual delimiter.
- 2FIND locates the character position; subtracting 1 excludes the delimiter itself from the result.
- 3In Excel 365, use the simpler =TEXTBEFORE(A2,"@") for the same result.
- 4Wrap in IFERROR to handle cells where the delimiter doesn't exist.
Tips
- To get the text before the last occurrence of a delimiter (e.g. the final slash in a path), combine LEFT with a SUBSTITUTE trick to replace the last delimiter: =LEFT(A2,FIND("*",SUBSTITUTE(A2,"/","*",LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"/",""))))-1).
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Frequently asked
Is TEXTBEFORE available in Google Sheets?
As of 2024, TEXTBEFORE is not available in Google Sheets — use LEFT and FIND there.
What if the delimiter appears more than once?
FIND returns the position of the first occurrence. To target a later occurrence, use FIND's start_num argument to begin the search after the previous match.
More on Text manipulation
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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.
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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.