Replace Part of a String in Excel

Have you ever needed to replace part of a string (i.e. text entry) with something else, across multiple cells? For example:

• You need to replace every occurrence of a space with an underscore.
• You need to replace the second occurrence of ABC with DEFG.
• You need to insert a dash between the 5th and 6th characters.

The REPLACE function, the SUBSTITUTE function and good old Find and Replace are 3 ways that can be used to do this.

This video covers all 3 methods, explaining which is the best one to use as well as the gotchas you need to watch out for.

Links to the video and individual sections below…

Introduction

Find and Replace – no functions needed

The Substitute function

Substitute – replace the Nth occurrence

The Replace function

Use the Replace function to insert text within a string