Excel VBA: Extract Word From a Text String

Custom Excel Formula/Function to Parse Words From a Text String in Excel

Got any Excel Questions? Free Excel Help.

Extract nth Word From Text in Excel See

With the aid of Excel VBA we can write a custom formula/function, or user defined function to extract out the nth word from a text string. The code below should be placed in a standard Excel Module after entering the VBE. That is, push Alt+F11 and then go to Insert>Module and paste in the code below;

Option Compare Text

Function Get_Word(text_string As String, nth_word) As String

Dim lWordCount As Long



        With Application.WorksheetFunction

        lWordCount = Len(text_string) - Len(.Substitute(text_string, " ", "")) + 1

        

        If IsNumeric(nth_word) Then

           nth_word = nth_word - 1

            Get_Word = Mid(Mid(Mid(.Substitute(text_string, " ", "^", nth_word), 1, 256), _
                .Find("^", .Substitute(text_string, " ", "^", nth_word)), 256), 2, _
                .Find(" ", Mid(Mid(.Substitute(text_string, " ", "^", nth_word), 1, 256), _
                .Find("^", .Substitute(text_string, " ", "^", nth_word)), 256)) - 2)

        ElseIf nth_word = "First" Then

            Get_Word = Left(text_string, .Find(" ", text_string) - 1)

        ElseIf nth_word = "Last" Then

            Get_Word = Mid(.Substitute(text_string, " ", "^", Len(text_string) - _
            Len(.Substitute(text_string, " ", ""))), .Find("^", .Substitute(text_string, " ", "^", _
            Len(text_string) - Len(.Substitute(text_string, " ", "")))) + 1, 256)

        End If

    End With

    

End Function

Now come back to Excel proper and use in any cell like shown below. For all examples the full text string is in cell A1 and the text string is: Our main business focus is Excel Spreadsheets

=Get_Word(A1,"Last") would result in the word Spreadsheets as that word is the last word.

=Get_Word(A1,"First") would result in the word Our as that word is the 1st word.

=Get_Word(A1,6) would result in the word Excel as that word is the 6th word.