RIGHT Function in Excel: Take Characters From the End of Text

RIGHT Function in Excel: Take Characters From the End of Text featured illustration

📎 This article includes 2 downloadable practice files ↓

⏱ 2 min readUpdated 5 October 2026

TextLevel: BeginnerAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. Example 2
  5. RIGHT in practice
  6. Where you will use it
  7. Worked example
  8. Mistakes people make
  9. Related functions
  10. Continue learning

RIGHT returns the last characters of a text value.

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Syntax

=RIGHT(text, [num_chars])
Argument What it means
text The text.
num_chars How many characters from the end.

Examples

Example 1

=RIGHT(A2, 4)

Last four digits of an account number.

Example 2

=RIGHT(A2, LEN(A2)-FIND("@", A2))

Domain of an email address.

RIGHT in practice

Where you will use it

  • Last 4 digits of account or card numbers for display
  • PIN code at the end of an address
  • Serial number at the end of a code

Worked example

TextFormulaResult
INV-2026-0145=RIGHT(A2,4)0145
12, MG Road, Pune 411001=RIGHT(A3,4)1001
9876543210=RIGHT(A4,4)3210

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Trailing spacesTRIM first
Numbers as textWrap with VALUE if needed

LEFT · MID · LEN

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All Text guides →
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📎 Practice files for this article

⬇ Download all 2 files (ZIP · 38 KB)

  • 📗
    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
  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Text & cleaning24 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 35 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.

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