All articles with 'extract' Tag

This is CRAZY!!!. I stumbled on a weird use for FILTERXML() while reading a forum post earlier today. So I couldn’t wait to test it. I am happy to share the results.

Say you have some text (sentence / phrase / keyword etc.) in a cell and you want to extract the nth word. Unfortunately Excel doesn’t have SPLIT() formula. So we end up writing obscenely long array formulas or use gazillion helper columns.

Here is the super sneaky trick. Use FILTERXML() instead.

Let’s say you got some text values and want to extract the amounts from them. Something like above.

How to go about it?

We could use a variety of techniques to extract the values.

• Formulas – not easy given the unstructured nature of data. But almost possible. See this for an example.
• VBA – possible, read this forum discussion few ways to do it.
• Power Query – at first glance it might seem tricky, but PQ makes this all too easy. Read on.

Today lets tackle a very familiar problem. You have a bunch of very long, complicated file names & paths. Your boss wants a list of files extracted from these paths, like below:

Of course nothing is impossible. You just need correct ingredients. I cannot help you with a strong cup of coffee, so go and get it. I will wait…

Back already? well, lets start the formula magic then.