How can I combine multiple nested Substitute functions in Excel?

Question

I am trying to set up a function to reformat a string that will later be concatenated. An example string would look like this:

Standard_H2_W1_Launch_123x456_S_40K_AB

Though sometimes the "S" doesn't exist, and sometimes the "40K" is "60K" or not there, and the "_AB" can also be "_CD" or _"EF". Finally, all underscores need to be changed to hyphens. The final product should look like this:

Standard-H2-W1-Launch-123x456-

I have four functions that if ran one after the other will take care of all of this:

=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"_AB","_"),"_CD","_"),"_EF","_")

=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(B2,"_40K",""),"_60K","")

=SUBSTITUTE(C2,"_S_","_")

=SUBSTITUTE(D2,"_","-")

I've tried a number of ways of combining these into one function, but I'm relatively new to this level of excel so I'm at a loss. Is there anyway to combine all of this so that it executes one command after the other in one cell?

Mckelvey

Answer 1

To simply combine them you can place them all together like this:

=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2,"_AB","_"),"_CD","_"),"_EF","_"),"_40K",""),"_60K",""),"_S_","_"),"_","-")

(note that this may pass the older Excel limit of 7 nested statements. I'm testing in Excel 2010

---

Another way to do it is by utilizing Left and Right functions.

This assumes that the changing data on the end is always present and is 8 characters long

=SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-8),"_","-")

This will achieve the same resulting string

---

If the string doesn't always end with 8 characters that you want to strip off you can search for the "_S" and get the current location. Try this:

=SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(A2,FIND("_S",A2,1)),"_","-")

Blockade

Thank you so much! I had tried your first option before posting my question. I must have made a mistake as I could not get that solution to work. After using your string I was able use the combined function after all. Thanks! – Mckelvey

Answer 2

• nesting SUBSTITUTE() in a string can be nasty, however, it's always possible to arrange it:

Knitted

Answer 3

No need to use VBA anymore for this! Super simple formula now!

=REDUCE(A1,$b$2:$b$6,LAMBDA(a,b,SUBSTITUTE(a,b,OFFSET(b,0,1))))

Where A1 is the target cell to replace text b2:b6 is where the keywords are stored (texts to be replaced) c2:c6 (referenced by the offset) is where the replacing texts are stored

Credit: Chandoo

Hemorrhoid

Why isn't this getting more credit. This solution is super useful! Much better than nested SUBSTITUTE functions. – Wiliness

Answer 4

Thanks for the idea of breaking down a formula Werner!

Using Alt+Enter allows one to put each bit of a complex substitute formula on separate lines: they become easier to follow and automatically line themselves up when Enter is pressed.

Just make sure you have enough end statements to match the number of substitute( lines either side of the cell reference.

As in this example:

=
substitute(
substitute(
substitute(
substitute(
B11
,"(","")
,")","")
,"[","")
,"]","")

becomes:

=
SUBSTITUTE(
SUBSTITUTE(
SUBSTITUTE(
SUBSTITUTE(B12,"(",""),")",""),"[",""),"]","")

which works fine as is, but one can always delete the extra paragraphs manually:

=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(B12,"(",""),")",""),"[",""),"]","")

Name > substitute()

[American Samoa] > American Samoa

Affiche

Answer 5

I would use the following approach:

=SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-X),"_","-")

where X denotes the length of things you're not after. And, for X I'd use

(ISERROR(FIND("_S",A2,1))*2)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_40K",A2,1))*4)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_60K",A2,1))*4)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_AB",A2,1))*3)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_CD",A2,1))*3)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_EF",A2,1))*3)

The above ISERROR(FIND("X",.,.))*x will return 0 if X is not found and x (the length of X) if it is found. So technically you're trimming A2 from the right with possible matches.

The advantage of this approach above the other mentioned is that it's more apparent what substitution (or removal) is taking place, since the "substitution" is not nested.

Collectivism

Answer 6

=SUBSTITUTE(text, old_text, new_text)

if: a=!, b=@, c=#,... x=>, y=?, z=~, " "="     "
then: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ... try this out
equals: !@#$%^&*()-=+[]\{}|;:/<>?~     ...     ;}?     ;*(|     ]:;

RULES:

(1) text to substitute is in cell A1
(2) max 64 substitution levels (the formula below only has 27 levels [alphabet + space])
(2) "old_text" cannot also be a "new_text" (ie: if a=z .: z cannot be "old text")

---so if a=z,b=y,...y=b,z=a, then the result is 
---abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz = zyxwvutsrqponnopqrstuvwxyz (and z changes to a then changes back to z) ... (pattern starts to fail after m=n, n=m... and n becomes n)

The formula is:

=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1,"a","!"),"b","@"),"c","#"),"d","$"),"e","%"),"f","^"),"g","&"),"h","*"),"i","("),"j",")"),"k","-"),"l","="),"m","+"),"n","["),"o","]"),"p","\"),"q","{"),"r","}"),"s","|"),"t",";"),"u",":"),"v","/"),"w","<"),"x",">"),"y","?"),"z","~")," ","     ")

Mickimickie

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