LEN Function in Excel: Count Characters in Text

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

⏱ 1 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

TextLevel: BeginnerAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. Example 2
  5. Related functions

LEN returns the number of characters, including spaces.

Syntax

=LEN(text)
Argument What it means
text Text or a cell.

Examples

Example 1

=LEN(A2)=10

TRUE if a mobile number has exactly 10 digits.

Example 2

=LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2, ",", ""))+1

Number of items in a comma-separated list.

💡 LEN is the quickest way to spot hidden trailing spaces: two cells that look identical but have different LEN values.

TRIM · SUBSTITUTE · LEFT

📚 Part of the free Excel course: Beginner → Expert · Try it in the Formula Lab or ask the AI Helper.

📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Text-cleaning scenarios workbookExtract and clean text (GSTIN, PAN, emails, names) with PASS/FAIL checks, plus the 3 mistakes that break text formulas.
    ⬇ XLSX · 8 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

Keep reading

Excel Functions A–ZAVERAGEIFS Function in Excel: Average With Multiple ConditionsExcel Functions A–ZMEDIAN Function in Excel: The Middle ValueExcel Functions A–ZCOUNTIF Function in Excel: Count Cells That Meet a Condition
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