Extract a substring with formula

Hi Bob, welcome to the forum.

Perhaps provide some sample data and your expected results.

Also note that the FIND function is case-sensitive, while SEARCH is not. FIND also doesn't allow wild-card usage, while SEARCH does.

Finally note that if it does find "acct_num", the position returned will be that of the first character in "acct_num". So instead of adding 1 to the FIND, add 8 to get to the first character after "acct_num".

Dear bobwachs, Good Evening.

Your explanation is a little confuse but I´ll try to help you.

Suppose you have this layout:


....A.............B...............C...............D.............................
1..Number....Date...........Name........Description..................
2..123..........12/25/2010..Person A...TOacct_num12345678901234567890XW


Do B4 --> =Mid(D2,Find("acct_num",D2)+8,20)

The result must be: 12345678901234567890

Tell me, if Is this what you want.


I hope it can help.