California State University, Fullerton
Campus Information Technology
Desktop Technology Training
Cleaning and Parsing Data in Excel - Function Reference
=find(value,cell,start)
Finds a value within a cell.
Value is the value within a cell you are looking for.
Since this is looking for a text string the value must be in “quotes”.
The value is case sensitive
Cell is the reference you are looking in For example A1
Start is the starting character position for the find.
For example if you wish the function to begin searching at the 5th
character from the left you will use the value 5
This parameter is optional
=search(value,cell,start)
=left(cell,length)
Exactly the same as the find function except it is NOT case sensitive
Extracts a certain number of characters from the left side of the string
Cell is the cell to extract the data from
Length is the number of characters to extract from the left
=right(cell,length)
Extracts a certain number of characters from the right side of the string
Cell is the cell to extract the data from
Length is the number of characters to extract from the right
=mid(cell,start,length)
Extracts data from the middle of a cell’s value
Cell is the reference you are looking for
Start is the starting position within the string. You can add or subtract
from this value to push or pull the starting position. Often times the
Start is determined by using the Find function.
Length is the number of characters to return
For additional information please contact Timothy Benbow at tbenbow@fullerton.edu
California State University, Fullerton
Campus Information Technology
Desktop Technology Training
=trim(cell)
[Value]&[Value]
=replace()
Removes leading or trailing spaces from a cell and reduces multiple
consecutive spaces within a cell to one single space
Concatenates values from individual cells with any constants you need
Replaces a character with another based on the character position
=substitute()
Substitutes a character with another based on the character itself
=upper(cell)
=lower(cell)
=proper()
Changes the case of the characters in a cell
=date(Y,M,D)
Returns the date as a number – enter 1/15/2010 as (2010,1,15)
Utility function for creating dates from embedded data
=time(H,M,S)
Returns the time as a number – enter 3:15:30 at (3,15,30)
Utility function for creating times from embedded data
=datevalue()
=timevalue()
Converts a date or time that is text into its numeric (date) form so you
can perform calculations on the value
For additional information please contact Timothy Benbow at tbenbow@fullerton.edu