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Excel guide · 2 min read

How to remove characters from a cell in Excel

Quick answerTo remove a specific character, use =SUBSTITUTE(A2,"-","") to replace it with nothing. To remove the first N characters, use =RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-N), and to remove the last N characters, use =LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-N).

Sample data

Every result on this page was calculated from this sheet by the same spreadsheet engine the Cellwise app uses.

ABCD
1Product IDPhonePrice textFile
2ID-48213(555) 301-7788$1,250.00 USDreport_q3.xlsx
3ID-50921(555) 642-1093$89.50 USDbudget_2026.xlsx
4ID-51177(555) 778-2210$4,300.75 USDnotes.docx

Remove a specific character with SUBSTITUTE

SUBSTITUTE swaps one piece of text for another. Swap it for "" (nothing) and it disappears. It removes every occurrence unless you give a fourth argument saying which one.

=SUBSTITUTE(A2,"ID-","")

Result: 48213

Returns "48213".

Remove several different characters

Nest one SUBSTITUTE inside another, once per character. Here we strip the brackets, space and dash from a phone number. It looks long, but each layer does one simple job.

=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(B2,"(",""),")","")," ",""),"-","")

Result: 5553017788

Returns "5553017788".

Remove the first or last N characters

RIGHT keeps characters from the end, so keep everything except the first 3: =RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-3). LEFT works the same way from the start.

This is useful when every value has the same fixed-length prefix or suffix, like a currency code.

=LEFT(C3,LEN(C3)-4)

Result: $89.50

Returns "$89.50", with " USD" (4 characters) removed from the end.

Turn cleaned text into a real number

After stripping symbols, the result is still text and will not add up. Remove the " USD", the dollar sign and the thousands comma, then wrap the result in VALUE to turn it into a number.

=VALUE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(C2,LEN(C2)-4),"$",""),",",""))

Result: 1250

Returns 1250, a number you can sum.

Remove everything after a character

When the part to remove varies in length, cut at a delimiter instead of counting characters. =TEXTBEFORE(D2,".") drops the file extension in Excel 365. In older versions use =LEFT(D2,FIND(".",D2)-1).

=TEXTBEFORE(D3,".")

Result: budget_2026

Returns "budget_2026".

Remove characters with Find & Replace

To clean cells in place without a helper column, use Find & Replace. Wildcards help: * matches any run of characters, so ".*" removes a dot and everything after it.

  1. Select the cells to clean.
  2. Press Ctrl+H.
  3. In Find what, type the character to remove, or a pattern such as _* to remove an underscore and everything after it.
  4. Leave Replace with empty and click Replace All.
  5. To remove a real asterisk or question mark, type ~* or ~? so Excel does not treat it as a wildcard.

Common mistakes

SUBSTITUTE is case-sensitive

=SUBSTITUTE(A2,"id-","") will not touch "ID-". Match the case exactly, or nest an UPPER/LOWER around the text first.

Result will not sum

Text functions always return text. Wrap the result in VALUE, or add -- in front.

LEFT/RIGHT counts are off by one

Spaces count as characters. Check the length with LEN and TRIM the data first if spacing varies.

Find & Replace removed too much

An unescaped * matches everything after it. Press Ctrl+Z, then use ~* for a literal asterisk.

FAQ

How do I remove the first character in Excel?

Use =RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-1) or =MID(A2,2,LEN(A2)). Both return everything except the first character.

How do I remove the last 3 characters?

Use =LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-3). Change the 3 to however many characters you want to drop from the end.

How do I remove letters and keep only the numbers?

For mixed text there is no single classic function. See the extract numbers guide for Flash Fill and formula methods.

Can I remove only the second dash?

Yes. SUBSTITUTE's fourth argument picks the occurrence: =SUBSTITUTE(A2,"-","",2) removes only the second dash.

Functions used

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