Removing everything outside brackets in a cell

[justin_n84]

Hi!!

I have a bunch of cells which contain data similar to "[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]0.120 (3.048)". I want to delete everything out side the brackets. Is there an easy way to do this?

Thanks in advance
[/FONT]

 

[Gerald Higgins]

Here's one way.

Assumptions
1) Your input data begins in cell A1.
2) Each input contains one, and ONLY one, instance of the "(" character. So never 2 or 3 of these, and they are never entirely absent.
3) Same as (2) for the ")" character.

=MID(A1,FIND("(",A1)+1,FIND(")",A1)-FIND("(",A1)-1)

 

[jmacleary]

Hi there. You can do it with 2 replaces. First, replace "*(" with nothing (leave the replace text blank). The replace ")*" in the same way. If you are wanting to do this many times, just record yourself doing it into a macro.

 

[Fluff]

Another option
=IFERROR(SUBSTITUTE(REPLACE(A2,1,FIND("(",A2),""),")","")*1,A2)

 

[Gerald Higgins]

Minor comment - my solution leaves the brackets in place, Fluff's and jamcleary's remove them.

All of the solutions can be adapted to either remove them or leave them.

 

[jmacleary]

Another minor comment - my solution replaces the data in situ, both the others require the formula to be in a separate cell. If you want to keep the brackets my solution can be modified the use a replace value of "(" for the first, and ")" for the second. (rereading your original post, that's what you wanted I think).

 

[justin_n84]

so do a replace using "**"?

If so this deletes everything in the cell....

If not can you please show exactly as it needs to be typed?

Thanks

 

[Fluff]

Minor comment - my solution leaves the brackets in place, Fluff's and jamcleary's remove them.

You sure about that

 

[Fluff]

It needs to be *(
& leave the Replace box blank, or if you want to keep the brackets put a ( in the replace box

 

[justin_n84]

Yes I am sure. But I may be doing it incorrectly. So if you could show me exactly what to type in that would be much appreciated. Consider me an absolute beginner to excel.....