SUBSTRING / MID

Returns the specified number of characters from a string, starting at the specified start position.

Syntax

=SUBSTRING(string, start, count)

=MID(string, start, count)

Arguments

Argument	Type	Description
string	String	The string to get characters from
start	Number	The starting index in the string
count	Number	The number of characters to return

📘

Index is 1-based (i.e. an index of 1 is used for the first character). Negative indexes are allowed and index from the end of the string (i.e. an index of -1 gets the last character).

Examples

=SUBSTRING("ABC", 1, 1)→"A"
Gets 1 character from the string "ABC", starting at index 1 ("A")

=SUBSTRING("DEF", 2, 2)→"EF"
Gets 2 characters from the string "DEF", starting at index 2 ("E")

=MID("ABCDEF", 3, 0)→""
Gets 0 characters from the string "ABCDEF", starting at index 3 ("C")

=SUBSTRING("GHIJKL", -3, 3)→"JKL"
Gets 3 characters from the string "GHIJKL", starting at index -3 (3 characters from the end of the string, starting at "J")

=SUBSTRING("GHIJKL", 0, 3)→#ERROR!
Gets 3 characters from the string "GHIJKL", starting at index 0 (0 is not a valid index)

=MID("GHIJKL", 10, 1)→#ERROR!
Gets 1 character from the string "GHIJKL", starting at index 10 (an invalid index because it is longer than the string)

=SUBSTRING("GHIJKL", -10, 1)→#ERROR!
Gets 1 character from the string "GHIJKL", starting at index -10 (an invalid index because it is longer than the string)