String functions (LEFT, RIGHT, CONTAINS) in Tableau - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This data shows product codes and their descriptions.

Cell	Value
A1	ProductCode
A2	X12345
A3	Y98765
A4	Z54321
B1	Description
B2	Red Shirt
B3	Blue Jeans
B4	Green Hat

Formula Trace

LEFT([ProductCode], 1) + RIGHT([ProductCode], 2) + IF CONTAINS([Description], 'Red') THEN ' - Red' ELSE '' END

Step 1: LEFT('X12345', 1)

Step 2: RIGHT('X12345', 2)

Step 3: CONTAINS('Red Shirt', 'Red')

Step 4: IF True THEN ' - Red' ELSE '' END

Step 5: 'X' + '45' + ' - Red'

Cell Reference Map

    A        B
1 ProductCode Description
2 X12345     Red Shirt
3 Y98765     Blue Jeans
4 Z54321     Green Hat

References:
- LEFT and RIGHT use cells in column A
- CONTAINS uses cells in column B

The formula uses ProductCode from column A and Description from column B.

Result

    A        B           C
1 ProductCode Description Result
2 X12345     Red Shirt   X45 - Red
3 Y98765     Blue Jeans Y65
4 Z54321     Green Hat  Z21

Column C shows the formula result: first letter + last two letters + ' - Red' if description contains 'Red'. Only row 2 has ' - Red' appended.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does LEFT('Y98765', 1) return?

A '9'

B 'Y'

C '65'

D '98765'

Key Result

LEFT(string, n) extracts first n characters; RIGHT(string, n) extracts last n characters; CONTAINS(string, substring) checks presence of substring.