TEXTBEFORE

TEXTBEFORE(text, delimiter [,instance_num] [,match_mode] [,match_end] [,not_found])

Returns the characters from the start of a text string before a delimiter.

text	The text you are searching within.
delimiter	The text that marks the point after which you want to extract.
instance_num	(Optional) A number indicating which instance of the delimiter to use (default is 1)
match_mode	(Optional) A logical value indicating whether to ignore the case: 0 = Case Sensitive (default) 1 = Not Case Sensitive
match_end	(Optional) Treats the end of the text as the delimiter: 0 = Do not use the end as a delimiter (default) 1 = Use the end as a delimiter
not_found	(Optional) The value to return when no match is found (default is #N/A).

REMARKS

* This function was added in Microsoft 365.
* This function is case sensitive by default but this can be changed using the "match_mode" argument.
* This function does not support wildcards (? and *).
* If "instance_num" is left blank, then 1 is used.
* If "instance_num" < 1, then searching starts at the end of the string.
* If "instance_num" = -1, then the text after the last delimiter is returned. Example 12.
* If "instance_num" = 0, then #VALUE! is returned.
* If "instance_num" > the number of occurrences of the delimiter, then #N/A is returned.
* If "instance_num" > the length of the text, then #VALUE! is returned.
* If "match_mode" is left blank, then 0 is used (case sensitive).
* If "not_found" is left blank, then #N/A is used.
* If you want to use more than one delimiter you can pass in an array {":", ";", "-"} as the delimiter.
* If you want to return the original text when the delimiter cannot be found, use "instance_num =-1" and "match_end=1".
* You can use the FIND function to return the starting position of a substring. This is case sensitive.
* You can use the SEARCH function to return the starting position of a substring. This is not case sensitive.
* You can use the TEXT function to return the number as a formatted text string.
* You can use the TEXTAFTER function to return the characters from the end of a text string after a delimiter.
* You can use the TEXTJOIN function to return the text string that is a concatenation of several strings with a delimiter.
* You can use the TEXTSPLIT function to return the text string split into multiple columns using delimiters.
* This function was first released in March 2022.
* For the Microsoft documentation refer to support.microsoft.com

	A
1	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", " ") = better
2	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "t") = be
3	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "t", 1) = be
4	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "t", 2) = bet
5	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "t", 3) = better solu
6	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "t", 3, 0) = better solu
7	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "t", 3, 1) = better solu
8	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "T", 3) = #N/A
9	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "T", 3, 0) = #N/A
10	=TEXTBEFORE("better solutions", "T", 3, 1) = better solu
11	=TEXTBEFORE("a-b-c-d", "-", 1, 0, 0) = a
12	=TEXTBEFORE("a-b-c-d", "-", -1, 0, 0) = a-b-c
13	=TEXTBEFORE("a-b-c-d","-",-4,0,1) = ""
14	=TEXTBEFORE("a-b-c-d", "-", -4, 0, 0) = #N/A
15	=TEXTBEFORE("a-b-c-d", " ", 0) = #VALUE!

1 - What is the text before the first space.
2 - What is the text before the first "t".
3 - What is the text before the first "t".
4 - What is the text before the second "t".
5 - What is the text before the third "t". Case sensitive.
6 - What is the text before the third "t". Case sensitive.
7 - What is the text before the third "t". Not case sensitive.
8 - What is the text before the third "T". Case sensitive.
9 - What is the text before the third "T". Case sensitive.
10 - What is the text before the third "T". Not case sensitive.
11 - What is the text before the first delimiter, counting forwards.
12 - What is the text before the first delimiter, counting backwards (or the last delimiter, counting forwards).
13 - What is the text before the fourth delimiter, counting backwards using the end as a delimiter.
14 - What is the text before the forth delimiter, counting backwards not using the end as a delimiter.
15 - What happens when the "instance_num" is zero.