To extract the last N words in the text string, you need to find the relative location of the Nth last space, replace with a special character to distinguish with other spaces, then use Right Function.
- Extract the Last Word
- Extract the Last Two Words
- Extract the Last Three Words
- Extract the Last Four Words
Formula:
Copy the formula and replace "A1" with the cell name that contains the text you would like to extract, and change N to the number you need.
=IF((LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")))<N, A1, RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND("/", SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","/", (LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))- N+1)))))
Example:
To extract the last five words from the text string "How to Extract the Last N Words".
The result returns the last five words "Extract the Last N Words".
Explanations:
Step 1: To count the number of spaces
| Formula | =LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")) |
|---|---|
| Result | 6 |
Step 2: Replace the fifth space from the last with any special character (e.g., /)
| Formula | =SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","/",(LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))-5+1)) |
|---|---|
| Result | How to/Extract the Last N Words |
Step 3: Find the location of the special character
| Formula | =FIND("/",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","/",(LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))-5+1))) |
|---|---|
| Result | 7 |
Step 4: The number of the letters after special character
| Formula | =LEN(A1)-FIND("/",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","/",(LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))-5+1))) |
|---|---|
| Result | 24 |
Step 5: Pick up the letters after the special character
| Formula | =RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND("/",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","/",(LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))-5+1)))) |
|---|---|
| Result | Extract the Last N Words |
However, when text string has less than 5 words, the formula "=FIND("/",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","/", (LEN(A1) – LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))-5+1)))" returns #VALUE! error. To avoid this, you need to combine with the IFERROR function.
=IF((LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")))<5, A1, RIGHT(A1, LEN(A1)- FIND("/", SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","/", (LEN(A1)- LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))-5+1)))))
