How to Use RIGHT Function in Excel: Extract Text from Right Side

Use the RIGHT function in Excel to get a set number of characters from the end of a text string. The formula looks like =RIGHT(text, num_chars), where text is your string and num_chars is how many characters you want from the right side.

Syntax

The RIGHT function has two parts:

• text: The text string you want to extract characters from.
• num_chars: The number of characters to take from the right end of the text.

If num_chars is omitted, Excel returns just the last character.

excel

=RIGHT(text, num_chars)

Example

This example shows how to get the last 4 characters from the word "Spreadsheet".

excel

=RIGHT("Spreadsheet", 4)

Output

heet

Common Pitfalls

Common mistakes include:

• Forgetting to put the text in quotes if typing directly in the formula.
• Using a num_chars larger than the text length, which returns the whole text without error.
• Leaving num_chars blank unintentionally, which returns only the last character.

excel

=RIGHT("Excel", 10)  <em>Returns "Excel" because 10 is more than text length</em>

Output

Excel

Quick Reference

Parameter	Description	Example
text	The text string to extract from	"Hello World"
num_chars	Number of characters from right to extract	5
Return	Extracted characters from right side	"World"

Key Takeaways

RIGHT extracts characters from the end of a text string in Excel.

Use =RIGHT(text, num_chars) where num_chars is how many characters you want.

If num_chars is larger than text length, the whole text is returned.

Omitting num_chars returns only the last character.

Always put text in quotes if typing directly in the formula.