Microsoft Excel Functions & Formulas

Use the SEARCH function to separate first

name from last name

This task demonstrates how to separate first and last names. In a

worksheet, full names are listed in column A. We want to copy the

first name to column B. The SEARCH function can be used to

determine the space between the parts of the text string. This

function returns the position of the searched character inside a text

string.

SEARCH(find_text, within_text, start_num)

find_text: The text or character for which you are searching.

Wildcard characters, question marks (?), and asterisks (*) can

be used in find_text. A question mark matches any single char-

acter, and an asterisk matches any sequence ...