We have learned how to use the above single functions, and now we need to use them together in a somewhat convoluted way.īefore putting them together, let's try to understand how we are using them, and then we will build together the complete formula. Just in case you need to know, instance_num is an optional parameter that you use in case there are multiple instances of old_text in the text and you want to change only one of them. Note that text in a formula always needs to be put in quotes. The complete formula is SUBSTITUTE(B4, "three", "tree"). In this case, we'll have the text we want to change, and the old_text and the part we want to change ( three) which will be replaced with the new_text ( tree). The syntax is SUBSTITUTE(text, old_text, new_text, ), with text being the text we are going to change. We can fix it using the SUBSTITUTE() function. For example, in the text we have been using there is a spelling error (instead of tree we have three). The SUBSTITUTE() function will replace a piece of the text with another bit of text. How to Use the SUBSTITUTE() Function in Excel You can see that, similar to the example above with LEN(), when we put the TRIM() instructions in cell B4, Excel calculates the correct value in cell B5. The TRIM() function will give us back The horse under the three (with just the original 25 characters) without the spaces at the beginning or the end. It has a total length of 34 characters, including the spaces. The TRIM() function takes a cell with text content and gives back the same text without any white space at the beginning or end.įor example, say we have a cell that looks like this: The horse under the three (with 7 spaces before the text and 2 at the end. Note: I'll explain why I included the spelling error ("three" instead of "tree") below. You can see how it works here:īy specifying that we want the LEN() of cell B1 ( LEN(B1), in cell B2 above), Excel does this calculation for us. The LEN() function takes a cell with text content and gives back the number of characters in that cell.įor example, if we write The horse under the three in a cell, and we use the LEN() function to calculate the number of characters in that sentence in another cell, we'll get 25. We need to learn about three Excel functions, LEN(), TRIM() and SUBSTITUTE(), before we can use them in the formula. The Excel Functions We'll Use to Count Characters
Let's explore how to count words in Excel. Don't worry, though – we will see at the end how to make it work on a group of cells. Yes it is – but it's a bit convoluted, and it also only works on one cell at a time.
Excel does not have its own tool that lets you simply look at the number of words in a document (like Word does).
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