Text Manipulationintermediate
Extract a substring from the middle with MID
=MID(A2,5,3)
Excel how-to guide
How to left extract prefix in Excel
Extract a two-letter country code, a department prefix, or the first word from a product code column.
Step-by-step instructions
How to left extract prefix — 3 steps
1
Reference the cell that contains the text you want to extract from.
2
Enter the number of characters you want as the second argument.
3
Copy the formula down the column to extract the same prefix from every row.
Example data
Worked example
| Product Code | Prefix |
|---|---|
| EUR-10045 | EUR |
| USD-20012 | USD |
| GBP-30001 | GBP |
Common mistakes
Errors to watch out for
Returns more characters than expected
Double-check the second argument. LEFT counts from the leftmost character, so LEFT(A2,3) returns exactly 3 characters.
Returns a number instead of text
If the source cell is formatted as a number, wrap it in TEXT first — for example, LEFT(TEXT(A2,"000000"),3).
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How do I extract a variable-length prefix before a delimiter?
Combine LEFT with FIND — for example, =LEFT(A2,FIND("-",A2)-1) extracts everything before the first hyphen.
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Text Manipulationbeginner
Extract the last N characters with RIGHT
=RIGHT(A2,4)