TEXTBEFORE function – Microsoft Support

Windows: 2208 (Build 15601)
Mac: 16.65 (Build 220911)
Web: introduced 15-Sep-2022
iOS: 2.65 (Build 220905)
Android: 16.0.15629

Returns text that occurs before a given character or string. It is the opposite of the TEXTAFTER function.

Syntax

=TEXTBEFORE(text,delimiter,[instance_num], [match_mode], [match_end], [if_not_found])

The TEXTBEFORE function syntax has the following arguments:

text The text you are searching within. Wildcard characters are not allowed. If text is an empty string, Excel returns empty text. Required.

delimiter The text that marks the point before which you want to extract. Required.

instance_num The instance of the delimiter after which you want to extract the text. By default, instance_num = 1. A negative number starts searching text from the end. Optional.

match_mode Determines whether the text search is case-sensitive. The default is case-sensitive. Optional. Enter one of the following:

match_end Treats the end of text as a delimiter. By default, the text is an exact match. Optional. Enter the following:

if_not_found Value returned if no match is found. By default, #N/A is returned. Optional.

Remarks

When searching with an empty delimiter value, TEXTBEFORE matches immediately. It returns empty text when searching from the front (if instance_num is positive) and the entire text when searching from the end (if instance_num is negative).

Example	Result
=TEXTBEFORE(“Red riding hood’s, red hood”, “hood”)	Red riding
=TEXTBEFORE(“Red riding hood’s, red hood”, “”)
=TEXTBEFORE(“Red riding hood’s, red hood”, “”, -1)	Red riding hood’s, red hood

Errors

Excel returns a #VALUE! error if instance_num = 0 or if instance_num is greater than the length of text.
Excel returns a #N/A error if delimiter isn’t contained in text.
Excel returns a #N/A error if instance_num is greater than the number of occurrences of delimiter in text.

Examples

Copy the example data in each of the following tables and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.

Data
Little Red Riding Hood’s red hood
Little red Riding Hood’s red hood
Formulas	Results
=TEXTBEFORE(A2,”Red”)	Little
=TEXTBEFORE(A3,”Red”)	#N/A
=TEXTBEFORE(A3,”red”,2)	Little red Riding Hood’s
=TEXTBEFORE(A3,”red”,-2)	Little
=TEXTBEFORE(A3,”Red”,,FALSE)	#N/A
=TEXTBEFORE(A3,”red”,3)	#N/A

Data
Marcus Aurelius
Socrates
Immanuel Kant
Formulas	Results
=TEXTBEFORE(A2,” “,,,1)	Marcus
=TEXTBEFORE(A3,” “,,,0)	#N/A
=TEXTBEFORE(A3,” “,,,1)	Socrates
=TEXTBEFORE(A4,” “,,,1)	Immanuel