Looking for help trimming data from a cell...

[SBells]

I have a list of names. Some have middle initials, some don't. I don't want any of them to have a middle initial, so I'm trying to trim just the middle initial out.

The names look like this:
Doe, John
Doe, Jane
Doe, Jane A.

I'd like any name that has a middle initial to lose it.

Any ideas?

[jtp]

You could create a helper column and use:

=IF(RIGHT(A1,1)=".",LEFT(A1,LEN(A1)-3),A1)

This works if you always have a . after the middle initial. If you don't always have that, there are other ways.

HTH

[Teethless mama]

I have a list of names. Some have middle initials, some don't. I don't want any of them to have a middle initial, so I'm trying to trim just the middle initial out.

The names look like this:
Doe, John
Doe, Jane
Doe, Jane A.

I'd like any name that has a middle initial to lose it.

Any ideas?

=IF(ISERROR(LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1,FIND(" ",A1,1)+1))),A1,LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1,FIND(" ",A1,1)+1)-1))

[daddylonglegs]

Perhaps

=LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1&" ",FIND(" ",A1&" ")+1)-1)

which will also return a blank if A1 is blank

or to adapt jtp's suggestion

=LEFT(A1,LEN(A1)-(RIGHT(A1)=".")*3)

[SBells]

Thanks for the help! I ended up using a helper column to get it complete, but I'll try these out next time.