Google Sheets: Sort by Second or Third character

Google Sheets Sort by Second or Third character1

This article will talk about how to sort by the second or third character in a cell’s string value in google sheets. You may want to sort the values of strings by the second or last character from the cells in google sheets, how can you do this task quickly? You can use the RIGHT function to create a google sheets formula to solve this problem. The following will show the detailed step-by-step instructions .

Using the formula to rank by the second character

To sort the test string in the cell by its second character, you can use the RIGHT function and the combination of LEN function to create a new google sheets formula, you could refer to the general formula below.

=RIGHT(Cell, LEN(Cell)-1)

This formula will remove the first character of the text string in Cell, then you can use the sort feature to sort this column in google sheets, and then the original column will be sorted as well. Please do it as below.

Suppose you want to sort the A1:A4 range in column A by the second character.

1# Select cell B1 next to cell A1 that contains the data to be sorted

Google Sheets Sort by Second or Third character1

2# Enter the following formula in the formula box in cell B1, and then press Enter.

=right(a1,len(a1)-1)

Google Sheets Sort by Second or Third character1

3# Select cell B1, then drag the AutoFill handle down to cells B2:B4 to apply this formula. You will see that the first character will be removed.

Google Sheets Sort by Second or Third character1

4# Select cell B1:B4, click the “Data” menu, and then click the “Sort sheet by column B” submenu under the “Sort sheet” menu.

Google Sheets Sort by Second or Third character1

5# You would see both column A and column B are sorted by the second character.

Google Sheets Sort by Second or Third character1

6# You can now delete column B.

Google Sheets Sort by Second or Third character1

If you want to sort by the third character, then you can use the following RIGHT formula, and then follow steps 3-7 to complete the sorting task.

=RIGHT(Cell, LEN(Cell)-2)

Related Functions

  • Google Sheets RIGHT function
    The Google Sheets RIGHT function returns a substring (a specified number of the characters) from a text string, starting from the rightmost character.The syntax of the RIGHT function is as below:=RIGHT(text,[num_chars])…
  • google sheets LEN function
    The google sheetsLEN function returns the length of a text string (the number of characters in a text string).The syntax of the LEN function is as below:= LEN(text)…    

 

 

 

 

Sort Data by Last Character in google sheets

Sort Data by Last Character in google sheets

If you are an avid Google Sheets user, then you may have an urgent task to rank the text value by the last character from the cells; you can do this task manually very easily, which is also feasible, but only for sorting a small list of data. However, when there are a number of lists of data to be processed, it becomes a cumbersome and time-consuming task to sort by the last character by manually.

But don’t worry, because this article will guide you how to sort the data in a given cell range by the last character in google sheets.

Sort Data by Last Character

Suppose you have a list of data in the range B1:B5 that contains text string values. You need to rank the cells based on the last character in the cell. You can easily rank the cell range by the first character by using the “Sort range” function in google sheets, but there is no function or command to sort the cell range by the last character directly in google sheets. So how can we achieve this task. You can use the helper column, and then use the RIGHT function to extract the last character of the string in the cell, and then you can sort the characters in the helper column. The following are the steps.

#1 Enter the following formula in cell C1.

=RIGHT(A1,1)

Sort Data by Last Character in google sheets1

#2 Press Enter on the keyboard, then drag the fill handle down to the other cells.

Sort Data by Last Character in google sheets1

#3 You need to continue to select the cells in the helper column, and then go to the “Data” tab, click “Sort sheet” menu and click the “Sort sheet by column B (A to Z)” submenu.

Sort Data by Last Character in google sheets1

#4 You should notice that the range of cells has been sorted by the last character. You can now delete the helper column.

Sort Data by Last Character in google sheets1 Sort Data by Last Character in google sheets1

Related Functions

  • Google Sheets RIGHT function
    The Google Sheets RIGHT function returns a substring (a specified number of the characters) from a text string, starting from the rightmost character.The syntax of the RIGHT function is as below:=RIGHT(text,[num_chars])…

Google Sheets RIGHT Function

This post will guide you how to use Google Sheets RIGHT function with syntax and examples.

Description


The Google Sheets RIGHT function returns a substring (a specified number of the characters) from a text string, starting from the rightmost character.

The RIGHT function can be used to extract a given number of characters from the rightmost of a text string in google sheets. It returns a substring from the beginning of a specified string.  It’s purpose is to extract text from the right of a text string.

The RIGHT function is a build-in function in Google Sheets and it is categorized as a Text Function.

Syntax


The syntax of the RIGHT function is as below:

=RIGHT(text,[num_chars])

Where the RIGHT function arguments are:

  • Text -This is a required argument. The text string that you want to extract from.
  • num_chars -This is an optional argument. It will specify the number of characters that you want to extract from Text string.

Note: 

  • The Num_chars value must be greater than or equal to zero. If Num_chars is greater that the length of text string, it will return all of text string. If Num_chars value is omitted, it is set to be 1 by default.
  • If Num_chars is equal to 0, it will cause RIGHT function to extract the empty string.
  • The RIGHT function takes two arguments, text and num_chars. The first argument, text is the string from which the right portion will be returned. And the second argument, num_chars is the number of characters to return from the right side of text.

Google Sheets RIGHT Function Examples


The below examples will show you how to use google sheets RIGHT Text function to extract the rightmost substring from a text string.

#1 To extract the rightmost 4 characters in the B1 cell, just using formula:

=RIGHT(B1,4) //it returns “ogle”

google sheets right function

#2 If you do not provide num_chars argument, it will use the default value as 1, using the following formula:

=RIGHT(“google”) //it returns “e”

google sheets right function

#3 If Num_chars value exceeds the text string length, the RIGHT function will return the entire string:

=RIGHT("google",200)  //it returns “google”

google sheets right function

#4 If Text value is a numeric value, and the RIGHT function will return a text value:

= RIGHT(1234,2) //it returns “34”

google sheets right function

#5 You can also use the RIGHT function in combination with the FIND function to create a complex formula to extract a specific text string. The FIND function will get the position of the given charcter in text string, and the RIGHT function returns all text characters to the right of that position in google sheets.

= RIGHT ("google",FIND("l","google")-1)  //it returns “ogle”

google sheets right function

Note:

You can use the LEFT function to extract substring from the left side of a text string in Google Sheets. And you can also use another function called RIGHT function to extract a substring starting from the right side of the text string. And if you wish to extract a substring starting from the middle position of text string, you can use the MID function.

Related Functions


  • Google Sheets FIND Function
    The Google Sheets FIND function returns the position of the first text string (sub string) within another text string.The syntax of the FIND function is as below:= FIND(find_text, within_text,[start_num]) …
  • Google Sheets MID Function
    The Google Sheets MID function returns a substring (a specified number of the characters) starting from the middle of a text string. The syntax of the MID function is as below:= MID (text, start_num, num_chars)…

Google Sheets MID Function

This post will guide you how to use Google Sheets MID function with syntax and examples.

Description


The Google Sheets MID function returns a substring (a specified number of the characters) starting from the middle of a text string.

The MID function can be used to extract a given number of characters from the middle of a text string in google sheets. It returns a substring  from a text string at the position that you specify.

The MID function is a build-in function in Google Sheets and it is categorized as a Text Function.

Syntax


The syntax of the MID function is as below:

= MID (text, start_num, num_chars)

Where the MID function arguments are:

  • text -This is a required argument. The text string that you want to extract substring from.
  • start_num-This is a required argument.  The position of the first character that you want to extract in text string. The index from the left of text string from which to begin extracting. And the first character in text string is the index 1.
  • num_chars-This is a required argument.  The number of the characters that you want to extract from a text string.

Note: 

  • If start_num is greater than the length of text, the MID function will return empty text.
  • If start_num is less than 1, the MID function will return the #VALUE! Error value.
  • If num_chars is negative, MID will return the #VALUE!  Error value.
  • If you want to extract a substring from start_num to the end of text string, and you can use the LEN function to calculate the length of the text string, you should not specify a large number to num_chars argument for this case.
  • If you want to extract a substring beginning with a particular character, and you should use the SEARCH function to get the index of  that character in text string.

Google Sheets MID Function Examples


The below examples will show you how to use google sheets MID Text function to extract a substring from a text string.

#1 To extract 10 characters from the text string in B1, starting at the 5th character, just using the following formula:

=MID(B1,5,10)  //it returns “le sheets”

google sheets mid function

#2 If num_chars value is greater than the length of remaining characters, and the MID function will return all remining characters:

=MID(“google”,3,200)  //it returns “ogle”

google sheets mid function

#3 if text value is a number, and the returned value is also a text by MID function:

=MID(1234,2,2)

google sheets mid function

Note:

You can use the LEFT function to extract substring from the left side of a text string in Google Sheets. And you can also use another function called RIGHT function to extract a substring starting from the right side of the text string. And if you wish to extract a substring starting from the middle position of text string, you can use the MID function in google sheets.

 

Related Functions


  • Google Sheets LEFT Function
    The Google Sheets LEFT function returns a substring (a specified number of the characters) from a text string, starting from the leftmost character.The syntax of the LEFT function is as below:= LEFT(text,[num_chars])…