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Excel is a powerful tool that can be used to help with a variety of data-driven tasks. One of the most useful features of Excel is its ability to quickly and easily remove the last four characters from a string. By using the MID, RIGHT, and LEN functions, you can quickly remove the last four characters from a string without having to manually delete them. This can be especially useful when dealing with large amounts of data and can save time and effort. This tutorial explains the process for removing the last four characters from a string using the Excel functions MID, RIGHT, and LEN.
Often you may want to remove the last 4 characters from a string in Excel.
You can use the LEFT function combined with the LEN function to do so:
=LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-4)
This particular formula removes the last 4 characters from the string in cell A2.
The following example shows how to use this formula in practice.
Example: Remove Last 4 Characters from String in Excel
Suppose we have the following list of basketball team names:
Suppose we would like to remove the last 4 characters from each team name.
We can type the following formula into cell B2 to do so:
=LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-4)
We can then click and drag this formula down to each remaining cell in column B:
Column B now displays the team names in column A with the last 4 characters removed from each team name.
How This Formula Works
Recall the formula that we used to remove the last 4 characters from the string in cell A2:
=LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-4)
The LEN() function in Excel is used to find the length of a string.
Thus, our formula tells Excel to extract the amount of characters equal to the length of the string minus 4 characters starting from the left side of the string.
Thus, our formula displays the entire string with the last 4 characters removed.
Note: Blank spaces in a string count as characters. You may need to first remove blank spaces to get your desired result.
Excel: A Formula for MID From Right
Excel: How to Use MID Function for Variable Length Strings
In conclusion, the LEFT and LEN functions in Excel can be used together to remove the last 4 characters from a string. This is a useful tool to know when working with strings in Excel. Additionally, it is important to note that blank spaces in a string count as characters and may need to be removed first in order to get the desired result.