MID Function in Excel
Intermediate
Returns a specific number of characters from a text string, starting at the position you specify.
Syntax
=MID(text, start_num, num_chars)Example
Use Case
Extract the middle part of a product code.
Common Errors to Avoid
- Start_num must be ≥ 1 (Excel counts from 1, not 0)
- Returns #VALUE! if start_num or num_chars is negative
- Extracting beyond text length returns available characters only
Pro Tips
Combine with FIND to make start position dynamic based on delimiters. Use LEN to calculate num_chars dynamically. Great for extracting patterns from fixed-width data.
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