Right to left search

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Guest

Does anyone know of a simple way to search text strings from right to left
instead of left to right? I can buy software for this but thought there
should be a non-cost option somewhere out there.
I am using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 (2)
 
Hi Martin,

Can you give an example of what you're trying to do?

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

| Does anyone know of a simple way to search text strings from right to left
| instead of left to right? I can buy software for this but thought there
| should be a non-cost option somewhere out there.
| I am using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 (2)
|
 
Sorry, should have done this earlier.
I have a list of names of the type name1spacename2space....spacesurname and
I am trying to quickly separate the surname from the rest. For example, three
such names could be:

John James

John Jack James

John Jack Jeremy James

with the surname being James in all three cases.
 
Easiest to do in several steps, once you're satisfied you can combine them in one formula.
First: how many spaces are there?
=LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))
Now substitute the last one by a special character, like #, also with a SUBSTITUTE formula
Now find the position of that character with the FIND function
Take the part to the right of this character with RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-the position you just found)

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel


| Sorry, should have done this earlier.
| I have a list of names of the type name1spacename2space....spacesurname and
| I am trying to quickly separate the surname from the rest. For example, three
| such names could be:
|
| John James
|
| John Jack James
|
| John Jack Jeremy James
|
| with the surname being James in all three cases.
|
| "Niek Otten" wrote:
|
| > Hi Martin,
| >
| > Can you give an example of what you're trying to do?
| >
| > --
| > Kind regards,
| >
| > Niek Otten
| > Microsoft MVP - Excel
| >
| > | Does anyone know of a simple way to search text strings from right to left
| > | instead of left to right? I can buy software for this but thought there
| > | should be a non-cost option somewhere out there.
| > | I am using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 (2)
| > |
| >
| >
| >
 
=RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND("^^",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",
"^^",LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")))))
 
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