Formula Library Test Me Challenges Sandbox

LEN

Textbeginner

LEN counts every character in a cell, including spaces. It's primarily a helper formula — you'll rarely use it alone, but it's essential inside other text formulas (like MID, RIGHT, SUBSTITUTE) when you need to calculate string lengths dynamically.

Syntax

Excel:=LEN(text)

Google Sheets: Same syntax

Parameters

textThe text string or cell reference.

? = optional parameter

Worked Example

How long is the vendor name 'BrightPath Analytics'?

Row numbers	B
Header row	vendor_name
2	BrightPath Analytics
3	Cloudline Software
4	Summit Consulting Group
5	Apex Office Supply
6	Meridian Travel Co.

Formula

=LEN(A2)

Result

LEN counts every character in A2, including the space between 'BrightPath' and 'Analytics'. In this sample, A2 contains 20 characters.

Related:LEFT RIGHT MID FIND TRIM

Practice Exercises

2 exercises - work through each one using the data table below

Exercise 1 of 2beginner

#LEN-001

Question

You're building a validation check to flag unusually long vendor names. What is the length (number of characters) of the vendor name 'Summit Ridge Consulting'?

Dataset

Showing rows 1-20

Download CSV

Row numbers	A	B
Header row
2	INV-1001	Cloudline Software
3	INV-1002	Apex Office Supply
4	INV-1003	Summit Consulting Group
5	INV-1004	Meridian Travel Co.
6	INV-1005	Forge & Frame Creative
7	INV-1006	NovaTech Solutions
8	INV-1007	Atlas Hardware Co.
9	INV-1008	Clearview Data Systems
10	INV-1009	Redstone Marketing
11	INV-1010	Keystone Legal Advisors
12	INV-1011	Cloudline Software
13	INV-1012	Basecamp Events
14	INV-1013	Apex Office Supply
15	INV-1014	BrightPath Analytics
16	INV-1015	Meridian Travel Co.
17	INV-1016	Clearview Data Systems
18	INV-1017	Apex Office Supply
19	INV-1018	Summit Consulting Group
20	INV-1019	Cloudline Software
21	INV-1020	Atlas Hardware Co.
22

Click a column name to sort. Use the filter icon to narrow rows by column value.

Scroll to explore the table, then sort or filter by column as needed.

Hints

Your Answer

Exercise 2 of 2intermediate

#LEN-002

Question

You want to check whether a vendor name has any leading or trailing whitespace. The formula =LEN(B2) - LEN(TRIM(B2)) tells you how many extra space characters exist. For the clean vendor name 'Cloudline Software' (no extra spaces), what does this formula return?

Dataset

Showing rows 1-10

Download CSV

Row numbers	A	B
Header row
2	INV-1001	Cloudline Software
3	INV-1002	Apex Office Supply
4	INV-1003	Summit Consulting Group
5	INV-1004	Meridian Travel Co.
6	INV-1005	Forge & Frame Creative
7	INV-1006	NovaTech Solutions
8	INV-1007	Atlas Hardware Co.
9	INV-1008	Clearview Data Systems
10	INV-1009	Redstone Marketing
11	INV-1010	Keystone Legal Advisors
12

Click a column name to sort. Use the filter icon to narrow rows by column value.

Scroll to explore the table, then sort or filter by column as needed.

Hints

Your Answer

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