This function returns the requested number of characters from a text string starting at the position you specify.

Syntax

MID(text,start_num,num_chars)

Arguments

This function has these arguments:

Argument	Description
text	Text string containing the characters you want to extract
start_num	Number representing the first character you want to extract in text, with the first character in the text having a value of one (1); if not an integer, the number is truncated
num_chars	Number of characters to return from text; if not an integer, the number is truncated

The text argument can be a string, a formula that returns a string, or a reference to a cell containing a string.The start_num argument has these rules

• If start_num is greater than the length of text, this function returns "" (empty text).If start_num is less than the length of text, but start_num plus num_chars exceeds the length of text, this function returns the characters up to the end of text.

Data Types

Accepts string data for the text argument, numeric data for the start_num argument, and numeric data for the num_chars argument. Returns string data.

Examples

MID(B17,5,8)

MID(""wind surfing"", 6, 20) gives the result surfing

Version Available

This function is available in product version 1.0 or later.

See Also

LEFT | RIGHT | Text Functions