# Off Topic > Tips and Tutorials >  >  Separating strings into substrings.
Your formula does not work.  I followed your exercise however it gives me an error of value:
Had to change "," for ; 
=LEFT(A2;FIND(";";A2)-1)
I use Microsoft Excel 2003

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## ExcelTip

Problem:					
Separating the addresses in column A into 3 columns: city, state and zip.					

Solution:					
Using the LEFT, MID, RIGHT, FIND and LEN functions, as follows:
To extract City:
=LEFT(A2,FIND(\"\",\"\",A2)-1)
To extract State:
=MID(A2,FIND(\"\",\"\",A2)+2,2)
To extract Zip code:
=RIGHT(A2,5)					


Address_________________City____________State___Zip		
New York, NY 10164______New York________NY______10164		
Chicago, IL 60616_______Chicago_________IL______60616		
Los Angeles, CA 90099___Los Angeles_____CA______90099

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