Item function

To use this function, choose Calc > Calculator.

Extracts the nth word from a string of text. For example, if you have a column of last names and first names separated by a comma, you can extract all characters from the beginning of the text string up to the comma, which are the last names.

Note

The Item function is similar to the Word function, except that Item extracts empty text that occurs between consecutive separators (such as ,,) while the Word function ignores the empty string and extracts the text that follows consecutive separators.

Syntax

ITEM(text,word_num,[delimiters])

For text, specify the text or column of text. For word_num, specify the position of the word to extract. By default, one or more spaces define where each word begins and ends. If you want to specify other criteria for determining the separation between the words, such as a comma, specify the separator using the optional third argument, delimiters.

Examples

Column	Calculator expression	Result
C1 contains Jones,Penelope	ITEM(C1,2,",")	Penelope
C1 contains Fred Allen Sutter	ITEM(C1,3)	Sutter
C1 contains Rome,Italy	ITEM(C1,1,",")	Rome