REPLACE, REPLACEB - Microsoft Office Excel

REPLACE replaces part of a text string, based on the number of characters you specify, with a different text string.

REPLACEB replaces part of a text string, based on the number of bytes you specify, with a different text string.

Important REPLACE is intended for use with languages that use the single-byte character set (SBCS), whereas REPLACEB is intended for use with languages that use the double-byte character set (DBCS). The default language setting on your computer affects the return value in the following way:

REPLACE always counts each character, whether single-byte or double-byte, as 1, no matter what the default language setting is.
REPLACEB counts each double-byte character as 2 when you have enabled the editing of a language that supports DBCS and then set it as the default language. Otherwise, REPLACEB counts each character as 1.

The languages that support DBCS include Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), and Korean.

For more information, see the following Help topics:

Syntax

REPLACE(old_text,start_num,num_chars,new_text)

REPLACEB(old_text,start_num,num_bytes,new_text)

Old_text is text in which you want to replace some characters.

Start_num is the position of the character in old_text that you want to replace with new_text.

Num_chars is the number of characters in old_text that you want REPLACE to replace with new_text.

Num_bytes is the number of bytes in old_text that you want REPLACEB to replace with new_text.

New_text is the text that will replace characters in old_text.

Example 1: REPLACE

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

How to copy an example

Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
Select the example in the Help topic.
Note Do not select the row or column headers.
Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Formulas tab, in the Formula Auditing group, click the Show Formulas button.

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A
Data
abcdefghijk
2009
123456
Formula	Description (Result)
=REPLACE(A2,6,5,"*")	Replaces five characters, starting with the sixth character (abcde*k)
=REPLACE(A3,3,2,"10")	Replaces the last two digits of 2009 with 10 (2010)
=REPLACE(A4,1,3,"@")	Replaces the first three characters with @ (@456)

Example 2: REPLACEB (with your computer set to a default language that supports DBCS)

In the following example:

REPLACEB returns " " because each character is counted as 2; the second argument specifies a starting point at the fourth byte, which is the second character, and the third argument specifies a length of 4 bytes, which is two characters.
REPLACE returns " " because each character is counted as 1; the second argument specifies a starting point at the fourth character, and the third argument specifies a length of 4 characters. REPLACE returns " " no matter what the default language setting is on your computer.

=REPLACEB(" ",4,4," ") equals " "

=REPLACE(" ",4,4," ") equals " "

How to copy an example

See also: