How to use the TEXTAFTER function

What is the TEXTAFTER function?

The TEXTAFTER function extracts a string after a specific sub-string in a given value.

1. Introduction

What Excel versions has the TEXTAFTER function?

The TEXTAFTER function is available to Excel 365 users.

What is a string?

A string is any sequence of characters (letters, numbers, spaces, or symbols) that Excel treats as text. For example:

• "Good morning" - letters
• "345" - numbers formatted as text
• "Employee #02" - Letters, numbers and other characters
• " " - even a space is a string

What is a sub-string?

A sub-string is any part or portion of a larger string. For example, in "Good morning":

• "Good" is a sub-string
• "morning" is a sub-string
• "od mo" is a sub-string
• "o" is a sub-string

What is the difference between TEXTAFTER function and the MID function?

The TEXTAFTER function extracts text that appears AFTER a specified character or text string and is only available in Excel 365.

The MID function extracts a specified number of characters from the middle of a text string. It requires you to specify the exact starting position and number of characters to extract. The function is available in all Excel versions.

2. Syntax

TEXTAFTER(input_text,text_after, [n], [ignore_case])

input_text	Required. The original string.
text_after	Required. The string to search for, text after this string is extracted.
[n]	Optional.  The instance of text_after string, default is 1.
[ignore_case]	Optional. FALSE represents case sensitive search, default is TRUE.

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3. Example

The formula in cell E4 extracts text from cell B4 after given string in cell C3.

Formula in cell E4:

Explaining formula

Step 1 - TEXTAFTER function

TEXTAFTER(input_text,text_after, [n], [ignore_case])

Step 2 - Populate arguments

input_text - B4
text_after - C4
[n] - Optional, default is 1.
[ignore_case] - Optional, default is TRUE meaning not case sensitive

Step 3 - Evaluate function

TEXTAFTER(B4, C4)

becomes

TEXTAFTER("A dolphin is also breathing air.", "is")

and returns " also breathing air.".

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4. Example - case sensitive

This example shows how to use the TEXTAFTER function also considering upper and lower letters.

Formula in cell E4:

Explaining formula

Step 1 - TEXTAFTER function

TEXTAFTER(input_text,text_after, [n], [ignore_case])

Step 2 - Populate arguments

input_text - B4
text_after - C4
[n] - Optional, default is 1.
[ignore_case] - FALSE meaning case sensitive.

Step 3 - Evaluate function

TEXTAFTER(B4, C4,,FALSE)

becomes

TEXTAFTER("A blue whale breathes Blue air.", "Blue", , FALSE)

and returns " air." in cell E3.

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5. Alternative formula for earlier Excel versions

The TEXTAFTER function lets you perform both a regular and a case-sensitive search based on the fourth argument [ignore_case]. The SEARCH and FIND  functions are used in the alternative formulas below.

5.1 Alternative formula

This formula performs the same thing as the TEXTAFTER function, it works in all Excel versions. The formula extracts text after a given substring.

Formula in cell E4:

Explaining formula

Step 1 - Find character position of substring

The SEARCH function returns a number representing the position of character at which a specific text string is found reading left to right. It is NOT a case-sensitive search.

SEARCH(find_text,within_text, [start_num])

SEARCH(C3, B3)+1

becomes

SEARCH("breathes", "A blue whale breathes air.")+1

becomes

14+1 equals 15.

Step 2 - Count characters in cell B3

The LEN function returns a number representing the number of characters for a given string.

LEN(text)

LEN(B3)

becomes

LEN("A blue whale breathes air.")

and returns 26.

Step 3 - Count characters in cell C3

LEN(C3)

becomes

LEN("breathes")

and returns 8.

Step 4 - Extract text after based on position

The RIGHT function extracts a specific number of characters always starting from the right of the text string.

RIGHT(text, [num_chars])

RIGHT(B3, LEN(B3)-SEARCH(C3, B3)-LEN(C3))

becomes

RIGHT("A blue whale breathes air.", 26-14-8+1)

becomes

RIGHT("A blue whale breathes air.", 5)

and returns " air.".

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5.2 Alternative formula - case sensitive

This formula performs a case-sensitive search in order to extract text after the given substring.

Formula in cell E3:

Explaining formula

Step 1 - Find character position of substring

The FIND function returns a number representing the position of character at which a specific text string is found reading left to right. This function performs a case-sensitive search.

FIND(find_text,within_text, [start_num])

FIND(C3, B3)+1

becomes

FIND("a", "A blue whale breathes air.")+1

becomes

10+1 equals 11.

Step 2 - Count characters in cell B3

The LEN function returns a number representing the number of characters for a given string.

LEN(text)

LEN(B3)

becomes

LEN("A blue whale breathes air.")

and returns 26.

Step 3 - Count characters in cell C3

LEN(C3)

becomes

LEN("a")

and returns 1.

Step 4 - Extract text after based on character position

The RIGHT function extracts a specific number of characters always starting from the right of the text string.

RIGHT(text, [num_chars])

RIGHT(B3,LEN(B3)-FIND(C3,B3)-LEN(C3)+1)

becomes

RIGHT("A blue whale breathes air.",26-11-8+1)

becomes

RIGHT("A blue whale breathes air.",16)

and returns "le breathes air.".

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6. Extract string between two sub-strings

The formula in cell F3 extracts a string between two given substrings, they are in cells D3 and D6. The original string is in cell B3.

Formula in cell F3:

Explaining formula

Step 1 - Extract text after given string

TEXTAFTER(B3, D3)

becomes

TEXTAFTER("A blue whale breathes air.", "blue")

and returns " whale breathes air.".

Step 2 - Extract text before given string

The TEXTBEFORE function extracts a string before a specific substring from a given value.

TEXTBEFORE(input_text,text_after, [n], [ignore_case])

TEXTBEFORE(TEXTAFTER(B3, D3), D6)

becomes

TEXTBEFORE(" whale breathes air.", D6)

becomes

TEXTBEFORE(" whale breathes air.", "breathes")

and returns " whale ".

Use the TRIM function to remove leading and trailing spaces.

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7. Function not working

When using TEXTAFTER, Excel will show an error when:

1. The search text doesn't contain your delimiter
   • Error shown: #N/A
   • Example: Searching for "@" in "Hello World"
2. You set the instance number to zero or larger than the text length
   • Error shown: #VALUE!
   • Example: Using instance_num = 0, or trying to find the 20th character in a 10-character text
3. You try to find more instances of the delimiter than actually exist
   • Error shown: #N/A
   • Example: Trying to find the 3rd comma in a text that only has 2 commas

7.1 Troubleshooting the error value

When you encounter an error value in a cell a warning symbol appears, displayed in the image above. Press with mouse on it to see a pop-up menu that lets you get more information about the error.

1. The first line describes the error if you press with left mouse button on it.
2. The second line opens a pane that explains the error in greater detail.
3. The third line takes you to the "Evaluate Formula" tool, a dialog box appears allowing you to examine the formula in greater detail.
4. This line lets you ignore the error value meaning the warning icon disappears, however, the error is still in the cell.
5. The fifth line lets you edit the formula in the Formula bar.
6. The sixth line opens the Excel settings so you can adjust the Error Checking Options.

Here are a few of the most common Excel errors you may encounter.

#NULL error - This error occurs most often if you by mistake use a space character in a formula where it shouldn't be. Excel interprets a space character as an intersection operator. If the ranges don't intersect an #NULL error is returned. The #NULL! error occurs when a formula attempts to calculate the intersection of two ranges that do not actually intersect. This can happen when the wrong range operator is used in the formula, or when the intersection operator (represented by a space character) is used between two ranges that do not overlap. To fix this error double check that the ranges referenced in the formula that use the intersection operator actually have cells in common.

#SPILL error - The #SPILL! error occurs only in version Excel 365 and is caused by a dynamic array being to large, meaning there are cells below and/or to the right that are not empty. This prevents the dynamic array formula expanding into new empty cells.

#DIV/0 error - This error happens if you try to divide a number by 0 (zero) or a value that equates to zero which is not possible mathematically.

#VALUE error - The #VALUE error occurs when a formula has a value that is of the wrong data type. Such as text where a number is expected or when dates are evaluated as text.

#REF error - The #REF error happens when a cell reference is invalid. This can happen if a cell is deleted that is referenced by a formula.

#NAME error - The #NAME error happens if you misspelled a function or a named range.

#NUM error - The #NUM error shows up when you try to use invalid numeric values in formulas, like square root of a negative number.

#N/A error - The #N/A error happens when a value is not available for a formula or found in a given cell range, for example in the VLOOKUP or MATCH functions.

#GETTING_DATA error - The #GETTING_DATA error shows while external sources are loading, this can indicate a delay in fetching the data or that the external source is unavailable right now.

7.2 The formula returns an unexpected value

To understand why a formula returns an unexpected value we need to examine the calculations steps in detail. Luckily, Excel has a tool that Here is how to troubleshoot a formula:

1. Select the cell containing the formula you want to examine in detail.
2. Go to tab “Formulas” on the ribbon.
3. Press with left mouse button on "Evaluate Formula" button. A dialog box appears.
   The formula appears in a white field inside the dialog box. Underlined expressions are calculations being processed in the next step. The italicized expression is the most recent result. The buttons at the bottom of the dialog box allows you to evaluate the formula in smaller calculations which you control.
4. Press with left mouse button on the "Evaluate" button located at the bottom of the dialog box to process the underlined expression.
5. Repeat press with left mouse button oning the "Evaluate" button until you have seen all calculations step by step. This allows you to examine the formula in greater detail and hopefully find the culprit.
6. Press "Close" button to dismiss the dialog box.

There is also another way to debug formulas using the function key F9. F9 is especially useful if you have a hunch that a specific part of the formula is the issue, this makes it faster than the "Evaluate Formula" tool since you don't need to go through all calculations to find the issue..

1. Enter Edit mode: Double-press with left mouse button on the cell or press F2 to enter Edit mode for the formula.
2. Select part of the formula: Highlight the specific part of the formula you want to evaluate. You can select and evaluate any part of the formula that could work as a standalone formula.
3. Press F9: This will calculate and display the result of just that selected portion.
4. Evaluate step-by-step: You can select and evaluate different parts of the formula to see intermediate results.
5. Check for errors: This allows you to pinpoint which part of a complex formula may be causing an error.

The image above shows cell reference B3 converted to hard-coded value using the F9 key. The hardcoded value is a text string and the EOMONTH function expects a number representing the Excel date. We have found what is wrong with the formula using the F9 key.

Tips!

• View actual values: Selecting a cell reference and pressing F9 will show the actual values in those cells.
• Exit safely: Press Esc to exit Edit mode without changing the formula. Don't press Enter, as that would replace the formula part with the calculated value.
• Full recalculation: Pressing F9 outside of Edit mode will recalculate all formulas in the workbook.

Remember to be careful not to accidentally overwrite parts of your formula when using F9. Always exit with Esc rather than Enter to preserve the original formula. However, if you make a mistake overwriting the formula it is not the end of the world. You can “undo” the action by pressing keyboard shortcut keys CTRL + z or pressing the “Undo” button

Other errors

Floating-point arithmetic may give inaccurate results in Excel - Article

Floating-point errors are usually very small, often beyond the 15th decimal place, and in most cases don't affect calculations significantly.

Useful links

TEXTAFTER function - Microsoft
Excel TEXTAFTER function: extract text after specific character or word

'TEXTAFTER' function examples

Functions in 'Text' category

The TEXTAFTER function function is one of 29 functions in the 'Text' category.

Excel function categories

Excel categories

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