LEFT, RIGHT, MID and LEN Practice Questions with Solutions

Introduction

Excel text functions are useful when you need to extract specific parts of text from a cell. LEFT extracts characters from the beginning, RIGHT extracts characters from the end, MID extracts characters from a specific position, and LEN counts the total number of characters. In this chapter, you will practice these functions with employee IDs, product codes, phone numbers, email addresses, names, invoice numbers, and other practical datasets. LEFT, RIGHT, MID and LEN Practice questions with solutions to help you understand the concepts.

Question 1: Extract the First Characters Using LEFT

Problem Statement

You have employee IDs in the format EMP-101, EMP-102, etc. Extract the first three characters from each ID.

Excel Data

Solution

In C2, enter:

=LEFT(B2,3)

Copy the formula down.

Expected Output

Question 2: Extract the Last Characters Using RIGHT

Problem Statement

A company stores product codes such as PROD-1001. Extract the last four digits from each product code.

Excel Data

Solution

In C2, enter:

=RIGHT(B2,4)

Copy the formula down.

Expected Output

Question 3: Extract Characters from the Middle Using MID

Problem Statement

The employee IDs follow this format:

EMP-101-DEL

Extract the three-digit employee number from the middle of each ID.

Excel Data

Solution

In C2, enter:

=MID(B2,5,3)

Copy down.

Expected Output

MID starts at the position you specify and extracts the number of characters you specify.

Question 4: Find the Length of Employee Names Using LEN

Problem Statement

Calculate the number of characters in each employee’s name.

Excel Data

Solution

In B2, enter:

=LEN(A2)

Copy the formula down.

Expected Output

LEN counts spaces as characters.

Question 5: Extract the Area Code from a Phone Number

Problem Statement

Phone numbers are stored with an area code in the format:

011-45678901

Extract the first three characters as the area code.

Excel Data

Solution

In B2, enter:

=LEFT(A2,3)

Copy down.

Expected Output

This is especially useful when the first part of a code or number follows a fixed structure.

Question 6: Extract the Domain Extension Using RIGHT and LEN

Problem Statement

Extract the last four characters from each email address to identify common domain extensions such as .com and .org.

Excel Data

Solution

In B2, enter:

=RIGHT(A2,4)

Copy down.

Expected Output

Question 7: Extract the First Name Using LEFT and FIND

Problem Statement

Names are stored as:

First Name Last Name

Extract only the first name.

Excel Data

Solution

In B2, enter:

=LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1)

Copy down.

Expected Output

Here, FIND(" ",A2) locates the first space, and LEFT extracts everything before it.

Question 8: Extract the Last Name Using RIGHT, LEN and FIND

Problem Statement

Extract the last name from a full name.

Excel Data

Solution

In B2, enter:

=RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-FIND(" ",A2))

Copy down.

Expected Output

The formula uses LEN to determine the complete text length and FIND to locate the space.

Question 9: Extract Different Parts of a Product Code

Problem Statement

A product code follows this format:

ELEC-LAP-2026

Extract:

1. Category → ELEC
2. Product type → LAP
3. Year → 2026

Excel Data

Solution

Category

In B2:

=LEFT(A2,4)

Product Type

In C2:

=MID(A2,6,3)

Year

In D2:

=RIGHT(A2,4)

Copy all three formulas down.

Expected Output

This example combines LEFT, MID, and RIGHT to break one structured code into separate columns.

Question 10: Create a Username from an Email Address

Problem Statement

Create a username by extracting everything before the @ symbol from each email address.

Excel Data

Solution

In B2, enter:

=LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1)

Copy down.

Expected Output

This is a practical example of combining LEFT and FIND to extract variable-length text.

Key Takeaways

• LEFT extracts characters from the beginning of a text string.
• RIGHT extracts characters from the end of a text string.
• MID extracts characters from a specific position.
• LEN counts the number of characters in a cell.
• Spaces are counted by LEN.
• LEFT and FIND can be combined to extract text before a specific character.
• RIGHT, LEN, and FIND can be combined to extract text after a specific character.
• MID is useful when the required text is located in the middle of a structured value.
• These functions are useful for employee IDs, product codes, email addresses, phone numbers, names, and reference numbers.
• Combining text functions makes Excel useful for cleaning and separating structured data.

FAQs

1. What does LEFT do in Excel?

LEFT extracts a specified number of characters from the beginning of a text value.

=LEFT(A2,5)

This extracts the first five characters.

2. What does RIGHT do in Excel?

RIGHT extracts characters from the end of a text value.

=RIGHT(A2,4)

This extracts the last four characters.

3. What does MID do in Excel?

MID extracts characters from a specified starting position.

=MID(A2,5,3)

This starts at character 5 and extracts 3 characters.

4. What does LEN do in Excel?

LEN counts the number of characters in a cell, including spaces.

=LEN(A2)

5. Does LEN count spaces?

Yes. Spaces are counted as characters by LEN.

6. Can LEFT and FIND be used together?

Yes. This is useful when you want to extract text before a specific character.

=LEFT(A2,FIND("@",A2)-1)

7. Can RIGHT and LEN be used together?

Yes. They can be combined with FIND to extract text after a particular character.

=RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-FIND(" ",A2))

8. What is the difference between LEFT and MID?

LEFT always starts extracting from the first character. MID allows you to specify where the extraction should start.

9. Can these functions be used with numbers?

Yes, but Excel treats the values as text during these text operations. If you need the extracted result to behave as a number in calculations, you may need to convert it to a number.

10. Why are LEFT, RIGHT, MID and LEN important in Excel?

They are useful for cleaning, separating, and analyzing text-based data such as IDs, codes, names, email addresses, invoice numbers, and other structured information.

Written by Shubhranshu Shekhar, who has trained 20000+ students in coding.

Rishabh Kumar