MID

Microsoft Office Excel 2003

See Also

Also applies to:

MIDB

MID returns a specific number of characters from a text string, starting at the position you specify, based on the number of characters you specify.

MIDB returns a specific number of characters from a text string, starting at the position you specify, based on the number of bytes you specify. This function is for use with double-byte characters.

Syntax

MID(text,start_num,num_chars)

MIDB(text,start_num,num_bytes)

Text    is the text string containing the characters you want to extract.

Start_num    is the position of the first character you want to extract in text. The first character in text has start_num 1, and so on.

Num_chars    specifies the number of characters you want MID to return from text.

Num_bytes    specifies the number of characters you want MIDB to return from text, in bytes.

Remarks

  • If start_num is greater than the length of text, MID returns "" (empty text).
  • If start_num is less than the length of text, but start_num plus num_chars exceeds the length of text, MID returns the characters up to the end of text.
  • If start_num is less than 1, MID returns the #VALUE! error value.
  • If num_chars is negative, MID returns the #VALUE! error value.

  • If num_bytes is negative, MIDB returns the #VALUE! error value.

Example (MID)

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

Show How?

  1. Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
  2. Select the example in the Help topic. Do not select the row or column headers.

    Selecting an example from Help

    Selecting an example from Help

  3. Press CTRL+C.
  4. In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
  5. To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing Mode.
 
1
2
A
Data
Fluid Flow
Formula Description (Result)
=MID(A2,1,5) Five characters from the string above, starting at the first character (Fluid)
=MID(A2,7,20) Twenty characters from the string above, starting at the seventh (Flow)
=MID(A2,20,5) Because the starting point is greater than the length of the string, empty text is returned ()

Example (MIDB)

=MIDB("Tokyo to ShibuyaTokyo to ShibuyaTokyo to Shibuya Tokyo to ShibuyaTokyo to ShibuyaTokyo to Shibuya",1,6) equals "Tokyo to ShibuyaTokyo to ShibuyaTokyo to Shibuya"