Remove whitespaces and other characters or text strings in Google Sheets from multiple cells at once

This blog post explores various methods for removing text from multiple Google Sheets cells simultaneously, a task often as challenging as adding text. We'll cover formulas and a formula-free approach using the Power Tools add-on.

Google Sheets Formulas for Text Removal

There's no single function to remove arbitrary text, so we'll use different formulas for various scenarios.

Removing Whitespace:

Google Sheets provides a built-in solution. Select the cells and choose Data > Trim whitespace. This removes leading and trailing spaces, reducing multiple internal spaces to single ones.

Removing Special Characters:

The SUBSTITUTE function replaces one character with another. To remove characters, replace them with an empty string (""). For multiple characters, nest SUBSTITUTE functions:

=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1,"#",""),"(",""),")",""),"-","")

This removes "#", "(", ")", and "-" from cell A1. Use ArrayFormula for entire columns:

=ArrayFormula(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A1:A7,"#",""),"(",""),")",""),"-",""))

Removing Specific Text:

The REGEXREPLACE function uses regular expressions for more complex pattern matching. For example, to remove "US" from a string:

=REGEXREPLACE(A1,"(.*)US(.*)","$1 $2")

This removes "US" while keeping the surrounding text. Combine with SUBSTITUTE to remove additional characters like commas.

Removing Text Before/After Characters:

REGEXREPLACE is useful here too. To extract phone numbers starting with " ":

=REGEXREPLACE(A1,".*\n.*(\ .*)","$1")

This keeps only the portion after a newline character (\n) that starts with " ". Alternatively, to remove the first line:

=REGEXREPLACE(A1, "^.*", "")

For fixed-length text, RIGHT, LEN, and FIND can be combined:

=RIGHT(A1,(LEN(A1)-(FIND(" ",A1)-1)))

This extracts the portion after the " " symbol.

Removing First/Last N Characters:

REGEXREPLACE, RIGHT/LEFT LEN, and REPLACE can remove a specified number of characters from the beginning or end.

REGEXREPLACE(A1,"(.{9})(.*)","$2") removes the first 9 characters. RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-9) removes the last 9 characters. REPLACE(A1,1,9,"") removes the first 9 characters.

Formula-Free Method: Power Tools Add-on

The Power Tools add-on offers a user-friendly interface for all these tasks without formulas. It provides options to remove substrings, special characters, and text based on position or surrounding characters.

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Power Tools also includes a "Split Date & Time" tool to easily remove time units from timestamps.

Choose the method that best suits your needs and skill level. For simple tasks, built-in functions or the Power Tools add-on are efficient. For complex scenarios, mastering REGEXREPLACE provides powerful flexibility.

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