The Split function in Google Sheets is a text function that divides text around a specified character (or string) and puts each fragment into a separate cell in the row.
What it Does
Divides the contents of a cell at a specified point and puts each part into a separate cell.
Syntax
=SPLIT(text, delimiter)
Text is simply the text to be divided. The delimiter is the character or characters to be used to split the text. If the delimiter is text, it will need to be enclosed in quotation marks, “like this”, even the text is a space – ” “.
=SPLIT(A2, “,”)
=SPLIT(A2,” “)
Examples
Using the Data Menu
It is possible to easily split clearly defined data (for example, text separated by commas) into several different columns in Google Sheets without using a formula. To do this,
- With your spreadsheet open, select the cells that you want to split
- Click on the Data menu
- Choose Split text to columns
- To choose which character Sheets uses to split the data, click the drop-down arrow (next to Separator) and choose an option (e.g. space, comma etc.)
- Your text will immediately separate
- If you want to split your data using a different character (e.g. £) choose Custom, then type in your separator and your text will immediately separate
Click on the download button above, if you want to download a copy of the examples used into Sheets.
To return to the resources page, just click here. If you enjoyed reading about the Split function in Sheets, you may like to look at some other Sheets functions, e.g. Concatenate, Upper, Lower or Proper.