In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the SUBSTITUTE function in Google Sheets.
How to Use the SUBSTITUTE Function in Google Sheets
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The SUBSTITUTE function in Google Sheets allows you to replace text in a cell with a different text string. This can be incredibly helpful when you need to quickly make changes to large amounts of text data.
For example, you may need to replace a certain word or character with another. The SUBSTITUTE function also gives users the option to replace all instances of the string or just a specific occurrence.
In this guide, we will show you how to use the SUBSTITUTE function in Google Sheets and provide examples of how it can be used.
How to Replace A Character or Word in Google Sheets
Here’s how to replace a character or word in Google Sheets.
Step 1
First, select the cell you want to place the SUBSTITUTE function.
In this example, we will place the output of our SUBSTITUTE function in column E. We’ve added three columns to help supply the arguments we need for the function.
Step 2
Type the string “=SUBSTITUTE” to start using the SUBSTITUTE function in Google Sheets.
Step 3
Next, we’ll add the following arguments: the original text, the text to search for, the text to replace the found text with, and the occurrence to replace.
The fourth argument is optional. If left blank, Google Sheets will automatically change all instances found in the original string.
Step 4
Hit the Enter key to return the updated string.
In the example above, we were able to replace all instances of ‘o’ in the string ‘Hello World’ with a 0 instead.
We can also specify the occurrence to change a specific instance of a string rather than every occurrence in the target text.
Summary
This guide should be everything you need to use the SUBSTITUTE function in Google Sheets.
You may make a copy of this example spreadsheet to test it out on your own.