Comments on: Using REPLACE and SUBSTITUTE functions in Excel - formula examples

The tutorial explains the Excel REPLACE and SUBSTITUTE functions with examples of uses. See how to use the REPLACE function with text strings, numbers and dates, and how to nest several REPLACE or SUBSTITUTE functions within one formula. Continue reading →

Comments page 3. Total comments: 301

  1. Is there any possibility of adding specific texts to allocated number values please?
    e.g.

    0 = None
    1 = Tea
    2 = Cocoa
    3 = Coffee

    Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

    1. Hi!
      Based on your description, it is hard to completely understand your task. However, I’ll try to guess and offer you the following formula:

      =CHOOSE(B1+1,B1&"None", B1&"Tea", B1&"Cocoa", B1&"Coffee")

      If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.

  2. Is there any possibility of adding specific texts to allocated number values please?
    e.g.
    0 = Not Yet Achieved
    1 = Pass
    2 = Merit
    3 = Distinction

    Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

    1. hi Cam,

      You can use the following formula:
      =IF(F9=0, "Not Yet Achieved", IF(F9=1, "Pass", IF(F9=2, "Merit", IF(F9=3, "Distinction", "False"))))

      where, F9 is the first cell number with the number 0.

  3. how can I change this format to 04-05-2021 AM 2:45:55 to 04-05-2021 2:45:55 AM

    1. Hello!
      If your values are written as date, then apply a custom date format as described in this article.
      If your date is written as text, use the formula

      =REPLACE(LEFT(A1,LEN(A1)-8),SEARCH(" ",A1,1),1, RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-13)&" ")

      I hope I answered your question. If something is still unclear, please feel free to ask.

  4. The string is an NCAA basketball tournament game schedule as follows:

    6:30 pm — No. 16 N.C. Central vs. No. 16 Texas Southern (West/Dayton, OH), TruTV

    Where each team name can be one, two or three words as follows:

    4:00 pm — No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 South Dakota State (West/Boise, ID), TNT

    Have used substitute to replace all unnecessary characters so that desired data elements are all separated by a single space...

    6:30 16 N.C. Central 16 Texas Southern West Dayton OH TruTV

    4:00 5 Ohio State 12 South Dakota State West Boise ID TNT

    Each space separated element (other than team name) needs to become its own field in the record. Team name is a separate field. If the pm time could be appropriately valued numerically, that would be a bonus for sure.

    Thank you for any suggestions.

    Yours is an excellent site. I have no problem purchasing a license for your tool set, but I'm not sure if the mechanics are there to execute this very specific string extract problem...

    1. Hi Sam,

      You can use our Split Text tool to split your strings by this mask:
      * — No. * * vs. No. * * (*), *

      The following image shows the settings and outcomes:
      https://cdn.ablebits.com/_img-blog/_comments/comment-640523.png

      Also, you can download a trial version using this link and test it on real data. Perhaps, you will need to additionally remove some unwanted characters by using the Remove tool.

      If you have any further questions or concerns, just let me know :)

  5. Hi,

    its possible to rename needed phraze from Cell1 to needed phraze from Cell2?

    for example -->
    =SUBSTITUTE(A1;"cell1 phraze";("phraze from different cell2"))

    is there option to read information from other cell?

    1. Hi,
      If "Cell1" is cell A1, then this is not possible. If A1 says "cell1 phraze" then where do you want to write the formula that will change this phrase?
      If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.

  6. I need to copy a delimited cell into another cell, but only the values between the delimiters that are less than 30 characters long.

    E.g.

    Reference cell: blue||green||Adding another tag||this tag is toooooooooooooooooooooooo long||this tag is good||short tag

    I want to extract all of the tags that are under 30 characters and put them in the next cell so it would be:
    blue||green||Adding another tag||this tag is good||short tag

    I know how to do this from a column, but need to figure out how to do it from a delimited list and am having no luck.

    1. Hello!
      You need to split the text into cells and then select the ones you want. I recommend paying attention to the tool Split Text. It is available as a part of our Ultimate Suite for Excel that you can install in a trial mode and check how it works for free. If something is still unclear, please feel free to ask.

  7. =SUBSTITUTE(A2,"PR", "Project ")

    Instead of substituting PR with “Project” how would you substitute PR with the content of a cell ?

    Example content of A9 = “Happy”
    Result= PR becomes Happy

    Need to do this with a list of names that will have their own unique URL

    1. Hello!
      If I got you right, the formula below will help you with your task:

      =SUBSTITUTE(A2,"PR", A9)

      If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.

  8. How can I substitute max to AJanMAX

  9. How can i convert " 19:00-20:00-UAE " to " 1900 - 2000" format.

  10. I'm cleaning a large list of addresses with all different formatting. Some were in all Caps (so I cleaned that by using the Proper formula), some spell out Road vs Rd. vs Rd (no period). I'm using Find and Replace, however, I'm running into issues. When trying to find all the addresses using 'Road' and Replace with 'Rd', it will also replace Roadway to Rdway which I do not want. Another example is Finding all the 'Se' (for South East) to Replace as 'SE', excel finds all words that start with Se such as 'Second' and will replace it with 'SEcond'. Is there a way to search for just a two-letter word (ie; Se, Ne, Nw, etc) so I can replace just what I want? Or just look for the word Road and not Roadway? Any advice will be helpful. Thank you

    1. Hello!
      You can search for the desired word in 3 steps. To find an exact match for a word, add a space after the word in the search box. Then repeat your search and add a space before the word. After that, search for the word and use the "Match entire cell contents" option.
      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

      1. Thank you. Your advice has been very helpful.

  11. Hello,

    I am looking for a formula that will convert seconds into weeks, days, hours, minutes and a way to only show these if the value is not 0. So for example, 13500seconds would convert to 3h 45m.

    Thank you!

  12. Excel has empty commas in one column e.g. ,, OR ,,, OR ,,,, they are not same number but all are empty.

    We want to add text to other columns e.g. "A" "B" "C" etc.

    We want to have a substitute formula that will replace all spaces in column one with text available in other columns.

    So if there are two ,, we want to replace with A,B,C
    if there are three ,,, we want to replace with A, B, C, D
    if there is one then replace with A,B

    how can we do this in excel? Thanks in advance!

    1. Hello!
      If I got you right, the formula below will help you with your task:

      =LEFT("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ",LEN(A1)+1)

      But if you want to replace commas with letters in the first column, then this is only possible with a VBA macro.

  13. Hi!

    I have column of numbers formatted as follows:

    412.65
    11.987
    6.960.264
    199.246
    0
    90.97
    1194.2
    90.375
    7.8
    1.001.479

    The first period (.) from the right is a decimal point (we use commas), the other points are thousand seperators. The fields with three digits next to the last period are seen by Excel as whole numbers, the others as text. For example 1.001.479 is seen as one million, one thousand seventy nine, and not as 1000,479. 412.65 is seen as text.

    Is there a formule to convert this column into proper numbers, the result should be:

    412,65
    11,987
    6960,264
    199,246
    0
    90,97
    1194,2
    90,375
    7,8
    1001,479

    Basically, the most right period is a comma, all other periods removed?

    Thanks a lot in advance,
    Erik

    1. Hello!
      Please try the following formula:

      =SUBSTITUTE(IFERROR(SUBSTITUTE(A1,".",",",LEN(A1) - LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1,".",""))),A1),".","")

      Hope this is what you need.

      1. Thanks, Alexander, that does the trick!

  14. I want to replace time format i.e. for example 09:10:32 with word P and if the cell is blank with A , kindly help me with the formula

    1. Hi,
      An Excel formula can change the value only in the cell that it is pasted in. If you need to change the content on the cell that has some value in it, you’ll need to use a VBA macro.

  15. I Want to do a find and replace in formula form. I get Dates sent to me in a specific column " dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss AM/PM". when I past information in to my workbook I want to format that column for it to Automatically change to "ddd hh:mm:ss AM/PM

    Any assistance would be appreciated.

    1. Hello!
      Set your column to "ddd hh:mm:ss AM/PM" format. When you paste values there, use Paste Special - Values. You can use the key combination CTRL + ALT + V then V and ENTER again.
      I hope it’ll be helpful.

  16. Hello Alex,
    How do I change the first zeros in numbers without affecting zeros that are in other positions; for example in the following values: 0Z105, 0Z1025, 0X 11605, 0Y112008; how do I replace only the zeros that come before letters Z,Z,X and Y? Many thanks in advance.

  17. How do I Substitute part of a column for what is in another column. For example, Column E5 says ""Client Name" Branding". I want to substitute the "client name" in E5 for what is in Column A4, which is Zion. So I want it to say "Zion Branding". Column A4 is a pivot table so that I can change the client name as desired and it would change E5 to read the selected client name and then branding.

  18. how to change below text with quantity (Q:100Adam-USA) to (Adam-USA) & it's copy for one column...???

    1. =REPLACE(text ,2,5,"")

    2. Hello!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =SUBSTITUTE((CONCAT(IF(NOT(ISNUMBER(--MID(SUBSTITUTE(A3,"Q:","",1), ROW($1:$93),1))), MID(SUBSTITUTE(A3,"Q:","",1), ROW($1:$93),1),"")))," ","")

      I hope it’ll be helpful.

  19. Thank you!

  20. How do you substitute the character " ?? Excel returns with invalid, when you try to create formula =SUBSTITUTE(A4,""","") to remove all " in your text.

  21. Hi,
    The substitute formula is picking up part words instead of whole words. How do I over come this?

    1. Hello!
      Unfortunately, without seeing your data it is difficult to give you any advice. Please provide me with an example of the source data and the expected result. Please specify what formula you used and what problem or error occurred.

  22. I am trying to concatente & substitute within the same fomula. I have worked out each formula separately, but I cannot put them together into the one formala - can you help?
    =SUBSTITUTE(H6," ","_")
    =CONCATENATE(H7,".jpg")

    I'd be very grateful for your help.
    Kind regards
    Leeanne

    1. Hello!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =CONCATENATE(SUBSTITUTE(H6," ","_"),".jpg")

      Hope this is what you need.

  23. Good day,

    Is it possible to have the information in the first tabe replaced with new information on the next line in tab 2.

    For example A3 is equal to 1991 and is extracted from tab (sheet 2) B4. When I add information in tab (sheet 2) B5 i want that to change A3.

    Thank you for your time

    1. Hello!
      You didn't say exactly how you want to change A3 when B5 changes. But the formula might be something like this:

      =IF(Sheet2!B5="",Sheet2!B4,Sheet2!B4+Sheet2!B5)

      I hope it’ll be helpful.

  24. How do I change the item codes of a given list of products. The item/ product descriptions remain unchanged but new item/ product descriptions have been assigned to all the products.

    1. Hello!
      I’m sorry but your task is not entirely clear to me. For me to be able to help you better, please describe your task in more detail. Please specify what you were trying to find, what formula you used and what problem or error occurred. Give an example of the source data and the expected result.
      It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you.

  25. I have the letters iii that repeat in various cells throughout a workbook. I would like to replace iii with a series of number where I can assign what number goes in for the first iii found and each subsequent iii gets replaced with a "+1" number. For instance, the first iii would be replaced with 300, the second instance of iii would be replaced with 301, the third with 302 and so forth.

  26. How do I replace a certain list with another list? Thanks

  27. Hi,
    I want change the commas and replace as semicolons only outside brackers. But i dont want to change the commas within brackets.

    // Identity information (name, employee ID, date of birth, age, gender) , Home contact information , Businnes Contact (employee name, address) //

    Could you please assist me.
    Thanks
    Deepa

    1. Hello!
      It is very difficult to solve your problem with a formula.
      We have a tool that can solve your task in a couple of clicks: Ablebits Data - Split Text.
      You can split the text into columns. Use brackets () as delimiters. You can then replace the comma with a semicolon in the columns you want. With the Merge Cells tool, you can merge text into one cell again.
      This tool is available as a part of our Ultimate Suite for Excel that you can install in a trial mode and use for free: https://www.ablebits.com/files/get.php?addin=xl-suite&f=free-trial
      If you have any (other) questions, don't hesitate to ask.

  28. Net Price
    4,650,000.00 INR
    1,550,000.00 USD
    2,460,000.00 ERUO

    HOW TO SLOW THIS

    1. Hello!
      I’m sorry but your task is not entirely clear to me. For me to be able to help you better, please describe your task in more detail. Please specify what you were trying to find, what formula you used and what problem or error occurred. Give an example of the source data and the expected result.
      It’ll help me understand it better and find a solution for you. Thank you.

  29. Hi, can some one help me please,
    i have a excel that in column A contains 22 digit numbers data,example (123496789123456178912).
    this number represents alot of staff ( location of sales type etc..)
    if the 4th character is "4" this means DE_SALES if "5" means AT_SALES
    if the 5th character is "9" this means PICKEDUP if "0" DELIVERY
    what is the best formula to use

    1. Hello!
      To extract any character or multiple characters from text, use the MID function. Read more here. Then you can use the IF function to check the condition.
      I hope this will help

  30. how to replace
    $23,282 into $23,838

  31. How to replace
    search.auckland.ac/search?allPage=1 to search.auckland.ac.nz/search?allPage=1
    search.auckland.ac/search?allPage=1 to search.auckland.ac.nz/search?allPage=2
    search.auckland.ac/search?allPage=1 to search.auckland.ac.nz/search?allPage=3
    search.auckland.ac/search?allPage=1 to search.auckland.ac.nz/search?allPage=4
    till page=74

    1. Hello Selvam!
      If the list is in column A and starts with A1, then in B1 use the formula

      =LEFT(SUBSTITUTE(A1,".ac",".ac.nz"), SEARCH("=",SUBSTITUTE(A1,".ac",".ac.nz"),1))&ROW()

      After that you can copy this formula down along the column.
      Hope this is what you need.

  32. Can I change a cell value in a table from another cell
    Your reply would be highly appreciated.
    Thanks, in advance.

    1. Hello Kalpesh!
      The Excel function can’t change values in other cells, it returns a value only in a cell where it is written. You'd better use VBA to solve your task.

  33. Hello,
    Can we place our new text in other cell than the one with the formula?

  34. I am trying to convert text into time. I am using the TIMEVALUE function and have gotten 1/2 way there so far. Problem is Excel doesn't recognize my data as time because when it was exported, there is not a space between the time and p or a (Ex: 10:08p and 6:31a). I entered the formula: =TIMEVALUE(SUBSTITUTE(H3,"p"," pm") and it worked. The problem I have is that I don't know how to enter the formula to also change the "a" to " am" when this occurs in the column. Hoping someone can offer me assistance. Thank you!

  35. Hi,

    Is it possible to use the substitute function in an array, where there are other symbols or words intercalated? For a translation, as below:
    Cell A2 : I want to go home.
    Cell B2 : Je veux aller à la maison.
    Cell C3 : I [slot] want [slot] to go [slot] home. [slot]

    Can I bring my translation somehow in D2 with the slots appearing, not necessarily at the appropriate place, but at least to be within the words?

    Thank you so much for your help!
    N.

  36. Hello Svetlana,
    Very Good and helpful Article on Replace & Substitute function.
    My question is: Can we use an Array Set for;
    SUBSTITUTE(text, old_text, new_text, [instance_num])
    OLD TEXT: 0?1-GR&*88945.@
    SUBSTITUTE("0?1-GR&*88945.@", {"?";"-";"&";"*";".";"@"}, {"";"";"";"";"";""})
    NEW TEXT: 01GR88945
    CAN WE DO Like this to Get Results without using Nested Substitute Function.
    Thank you

  37. Hi sir
    i need Starting first character in a cell should alphabets or numeric if other Character like special character should replace any formula could Remove

  38. how to replace 1, 2,4 to G+0, G+1,G+3 respectively

  39. I have data coming in where A1 is a network name from A2 until a variable amount of lines the cells have an asterisk. Then a space another network name and then more asterisks for an variable amount of lines, then another network name and it continues for about 10K total lines in the sheet. I am trying to replace the asterisk with the network name proceeding its section without doing it manually. I've tried search/replace, failed at a macro, and a few other things.

  40. thank u very much , your tutorial is very helpfull ...

  41. I am trying to create a data matrix. I want to be able to replace any instance of the number 1 in a row with "=b2" So that any instance of 1 in row b will return whatever value I put in cell b2.

    I would to be able to drag this formula down or across as the data set I am working with is roughly 600 cells by 300 cells.

    I have been accomplishing the same task by highlighting cell b3 to the end of the data field and doing - FIND 1 and REPLACE with =b2. But I must do this line by line manually

    Thanks

    KAS

  42. =SUBSTITUTE(text, old_text, new_text)

    if: a=!, b=@, c=#,... x=>, y=?, z=~, " "=" "
    then: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ... try this out
    equals: !@#$%^&*()-=+[]\{}|;:/?~ ... ;}? ;*(| ]:;

    RULES:
    ------
    (1) text to substitute is in cell A1
    (2) max 64 substitution levels (the formula below only has 27 levels [alphabet + space])
    (2) "old_text" cannot also be a "new_text" (ie: if a=z .: z cannot be "old text")
    ---so if a=z,b=y,...y=b,z=a, then the result is
    ---abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz = zyxwvutsrqponnopqrstuvwxyz (and z changes to a then changes back to z) ... (pattern starts to fail after m=n, n=m... and n becomes n)

    The formula is:

    =SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1,"a","!"),"b","@"),"c","#"),"d","$"),"e","%"),"f","^"),"g","&"),"h","*"),"i","("),"j",")"),"k","-"),"l","="),"m","+"),"n","["),"o","]"),"p","\"),"q","{"),"r","}"),"s","|"),"t",";"),"u",":"),"v","/"),"w",""),"y","?"),"z","~")," ","_")

  43. ...i am trying to do a reverse score formula for a data...how do i replace numbers without having the formula repeat back on itself? so for example, if a participant answers a "1" to a question, i want the answer in the cell to come up as "5"...i want the numbers reversed for 1 through 5 (i.e. i want 1=5, 2=4, 3=3, 4=2, 5=1).
    my formula was this:
    =substitute(substitute(substitute(substitute(substitute(B5,"1","5"),"2","4"),"3","3"),"4","2"),"5","1")
    what i ended up creating was a loop, i assume...because each "1" ended up being a "1" (because it made the initial change to "5", and then further along the formula changed that "5" into a "1"), and each "2" became a "2" (for the same reason). 3 4 and 5 were correct (because those numbers didnt show up again in the first position of the number string inthe formula).
    So, how do i write the formula so i dont have a loop for those first two numbers?
    thanks!

    1. You can use formula
      =Max(A:A)+1-A5
      In your case: 6-A5

  44. Excellent article explaining the REPLACE & SUBSTITUTE functions, and I was able to correct some phone numbers using the REPLACE example in the article. But what I need to do now, is replace the individual cells with the corrected formatting (i.e. phone number without formatting to phone number with appropriate formatting). The column that has the original values has some cells with correct data and other cells with the incorrectly formatted phone numbers. Is there a simple way (using a formula?) to replace the new formatted number (in column C) with the incorrectly formatted number (in column B). Not every number in the column is incorrect, only about 100 of a total of about 700 entries. I hope I was clear.

  45. 169 #N/A
    169 #N/A
    169 #N/A
    169 Punjab National Bank
    169 #N/A
    169 #N/A

    i want to have punjab national bank in all the other places where it is #N/A. please share logic to write in other column

    1. ctrl+H
      find #N/A
      Replace Punjab Nation Bank

  46. How do i replace cell with ___AHEJ7224 with ___EJ8899 for example, i just want to replace all text in a column with new text leaving the underscore's.

  47. Sir,
    thank you so much i found the ans. in my problem the last example is the ans.

  48. Sir,
    possible to substitute a two different word or text? example in cell no A5 i would like to write ether PASS or Fail, and for my substitute cell A8 is YES or NO.
    to make it clear i want to write PASS in my old text A5, the result in my substitute cell A8 will be YES, but if i write in my A5 cell is FAIL the result must be in A8 cell is NO.
    IS THIS POSSIBLE? thank you so much.

    Regards,
    JPD

    1. Hi Jophet,
      You can use if Function to return value Yes if text A5 is Pass while NO if the cell A5 is Fail e.g =IF(A5="PASS","YES","NO").
      Thank you.

  49. How to replace 784.1991.1796026.2 to 784-1991-1796026-2

    1. =SUBSTITUTE(YourCell,".","-")

      1. U can Also Use Find and Replace key.
        eg. ctrl+H
        FIND . AND REPLACE -

  50. Thanks a lot.....
    I've found my solution.. It really helps me much

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