Written and reviewed by FormulaCraft Team. Each formula on this page is run through our verification engine before publishing.
Last reviewed:
How to remove line breaks from a cell in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Text manipulationExcel & Google Sheets
=SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),"")✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| header | header |
| data with line break | data |
| another data point | more data |
=SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(10),"")→data withline break
Try it with your data
Edit the grid or formula, then run it through a real spreadsheet engine — no signup.
Sample data — click any cell to edit
Runs server-side · free · no signup
Step by step
- 1Select the cell or range where you want to remove line breaks.
- 2Enter the SUBSTITUTE formula in an adjacent cell, replacing A2 with your target cell reference.
- 3Press Enter to apply the formula and see the result without line breaks.
Tips
- Ensure your formula references the correct cell containing line breaks.
- This method works for single line breaks; for multiple consecutive breaks, you may need nested SUBSTITUTE functions.
- Remember to copy the formula down if you're working with a column of data.
Working on a sheet you inherited? Run the Auditor on the whole file first — it flags every #REF!, #N/A, broken column pattern, and inconsistent formula in seconds, free, no signup.
Frequently asked
What if my line breaks are not being removed?
Check if your line breaks are CHAR(10) or CHAR(13). You might need to use SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(13),"") or both.
Can I remove line breaks directly in the original cell?
No, formulas create new results. To overwrite the original cell, copy the formula result and paste it as values back into the original cell.
Does this work for multiple lines of text?
Yes, but for multiple consecutive line breaks, consider using a combination of SUBSTITUTE functions or other text manipulation techniques.
More on Text manipulation
See all →How-to
How to split text into columns
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.