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Rmcclung
Copper Contributor
Nov 01, 2023
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How can I extract a variable value in a string of inconsistent text?

Hey Everyone,

 

I need to extract a string of characters in order to perform an XLOOKUP function. See attached spreadsheet. Example data I need to extract from can be seen in Column 1. The value I need returned is always going to start with "AP-" followed by a string of numbers. These could be 3 numbers long or more. This string can also be random within the text as it's not always at the start of the text or the last. I added the value that needs to be extracted into Column 2 for examples. How am I able to extract this data?

  • Rmcclung 

     

    =LET(position1, FIND("AP-",[@[Column 1]]), position2a, IFERROR(FIND(" ", [@[Column 1]], position1), 1000), position2b, IFERROR(FIND(CHAR(10), [@[Column 1]], position1), 1000), position2c, LEN([@[Column 1]])+1, position2, MIN(position2a, position2b, position2c), MID([@[Column 1]], position1, position2-position1))

  • Rmcclung 

     

    =LET(position1, FIND("AP-",[@[Column 1]]), position2a, IFERROR(FIND(" ", [@[Column 1]], position1), 1000), position2b, IFERROR(FIND(CHAR(10), [@[Column 1]], position1), 1000), position2c, LEN([@[Column 1]])+1, position2, MIN(position2a, position2b, position2c), MID([@[Column 1]], position1, position2-position1))

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