Left function returning first word

We've done a search under help for a "left" function that will return the
first word in a column (so theoretically, the funtion is searching for the
first space and returning all characters to the left of it). It's possible
that this is a combination of functions. Help yould be appreciated.
Thanks
Richard

Hi
=TRIM(LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1)-1))

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Regards
Frank Kabel
Frankfurt, Germany


Richard Ruda wrote:
We've done a search under help for a "left" function that will return
the first word in a column (so theoretically, the funtion is
searching for the first space and returning all characters to the
left of it). It's possible that this is a combination of functions.
Help yould be appreciated. Thanks
Richard

Frank Kabel wrote...
=TRIM(LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1)-1))

Um, why bother with TRIM? If the first character in A1 is a space, then
the LEFT call would return "", so nothing for TRIM to do. If the first
character in A1 weren't a space, then the LEFT call is guaranteed to
return a string with no space characters or a #VALUE! error if there
were no spaces at all in A1, and in both those cases nothing for TRIM
to do.

Did you mean

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

?


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Message posted from http://www.ExcelForum.com/

Frank Kabel wrote...
=TRIM(LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1)-1))

Um, why bother with TRIM? If the first character in A1 is a space,
then the LEFT call would return "", so nothing for TRIM to do. If the
first character in A1 weren't a space, then the LEFT call is
guaranteed to return a string with no space characters or a #VALUE!
error if there were no spaces at all in A1, and in both those cases
nothing for TRIM to do.

Did you mean

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


Hi Harlan
yes, screwed this formula. thanks for the correction!

Frank

Thanks guys, I'll try them..