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How to split a cell into multiple rows in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Data cleaning & shapingHeads up: Excel and Google Sheets do this differently.
Excel
=TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(A2,",",REPT(" ",100)),1*100-99,100))Google Sheets
=TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(A2,","))✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Combined | Split |
| Alpha,Beta,Gamma | |
| Delta,Epsilon | |
| Zeta | |
| Eta,Theta,Iota | |
| Kappa |
=TRIM(MID(SUBSTITUTE(A2,",",REPT(" ",100)),1*100-99,100))→Alpha
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Step by step
- 1Google Sheets: Use =TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(A2,",")) — SPLIT divides the cell by the delimiter into a row of values; TRANSPOSE flips that row into a column (rows).
- 2Excel (Power Query): Select your data → Data → From Table/Range → select the column → Home → Split Column → By Delimiter → choose your delimiter → Advanced Options → Split into Rows.
- 3Excel (formula fallback): Extract individual items with MID+SUBSTITUTE+REPT to pull the nth segment, though Power Query is far more practical for multi-row output.
Tips
- In Google Sheets, if the delimiter varies (comma or semicolon), pass multiple delimiters: =TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(A2,",;")) — SPLIT treats each character as a separate delimiter.
Need the Google Sheets version instead? Open Sheets variant in workspace →
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Frequently asked
What if the cell has line breaks instead of commas?
Use CHAR(10) as the delimiter: =TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(A2,CHAR(10))) in Sheets, or split by 'New line' in Excel Power Query.
Can I split into rows and keep data from adjacent columns?
Power Query handles this best — after splitting into rows, Power Query automatically duplicates adjacent column values for each split row.
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