What are REPLACE, REPLACEB functions in Excel?
REPLACE, REPLACEB functions TEXT functions in Microsoft Exce.
REPLACE replaces part of a text string, based on the number of characters you specify, with a different text string.
Important:
- These functions may not be available in all languages.
- REPLACE is intended for use with languages that use the single-byte character set (SBCS), whereas REPLACEB is intended for use with languages that use the double-byte character set (DBCS). The default language setting on your computer affects the return value in the following way:
- REPLACE always counts each character, whether single-byte or double-byte, as 1, no matter what the default language setting is.
- REPLACEB counts each double-byte character as 2 when you have enabled the editing of a language that supports DBCS and then set it as the default language. Otherwise, REPLACEB counts each character as 1.
The languages that support DBCS include Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), and Korean.
Syntax
REPLACE(old_text, start_num, num_chars, new_text)
REPLACEB(old_text, start_num, num_bytes, new_text)
The REPLACE and REPLACEB function syntax has the following arguments:
- Old_text: Text in which you want to replace some characters.
- Start_num: The position of the character in old_text that you want to replace with new_text.
- Num_chars: The number of characters in old_text that you want REPLACE to replace with new_text.
- Num_bytes: The number of bytes in old_text that you want REPLACEB to replace with new_text.
- New_text : The text that will replace characters in old_text.
Example of REPLACE, REPLACEB functions
Steps to follow:
1. Open a new Excel worksheet.
2. Copy data in the following table below and paste it in cell A1
Note: For formulas to show results, select them, press F2 key on your keyboard and then press Enter.
You can adjust the column widths to see all the data, if need be.
| Data | ||
| abcdefghijk | ||
| 2009 | ||
| 123456 | ||
| Formula | Description (Result) | Result |
| =REPLACE(A2,6,5,”*”) | Replaces five characters in abcdefghijk with a single * character, starting with the sixth character (f). | abcde*k |
| =REPLACE(A3,3,2,”10″) | Replaces the last two digits (09) of 2009 with 10. | 2010 |
| =REPLACE(A4,1,3,”@”) | Replaces the first three characters of 123456 with a single @ character. | @456 |