How to Use the Excel Formula to Get the First 3 Characters from a Cell: 6 Methods

Below is a dataset of the order information for a particular product. There are 3 columns: Order ID, Brand, and Price.

Note: Use the Excel 365 edition to avoid compatibility issues.

Method 1 – Using the LEFT Function to Get the First 3 Characters from a Cell

STEPS:

Select cell E4.
Enter the following formula in the Formula Bar:

=LEFT(B4,3)

In the LEFT function, I selected cell B4 as text and the num_chars 3. The first 3 characters from the left will be extracted.
Press ENTER.
You will see the extracted 3 characters in the Order Number column.

You can use the Fill Handle to AutoFill the formula in the rest of the cells.

Method 2 – Applying LEFT with the SEARCH Function to Extract the First 3 Characters

STEPS:

Select cell E4.
Enter the following formula in the selected cell or Formula Bar.

=LEFT(B4,SEARCH("_",B4)-1)

In the SEARCH function, given (_) in find_text, then within_text, I selected cell B4. The SEARCH function will give the position number of the given text, and then 1 will be subtracted from the position. It will work as num_chars for LEFT. The LEFT function will extract the characters from the left.
Press ENTER.
You will see the extracted 3 characters in the Order Number column.

Use the Fill Handle to AutoFill the formula in the other cells.

Note: Use LEFT with the FIND function for case-sensitive issues.

You can also use the LEFT function with the FIND function to get the first 3 characters from the left if you want to extract value from a particular text and a special character.

STEPS:

Select cell E4.
Enter the following formula in the selected cell or Formula Bar:

=LEFT(B4,FIND("_",B4)-1)

In the FIND function, given (_) in find_text, then within_text, I selected cell B4. The FIND function will show the position number of the given text, and then 1 will be subtracted from the position. It will work as num_chars for LEFT. The LEFT function will extract the characters from the left.
Press ENTER.
You will see the extracted 3 characters in the Order Number column.

NOTE: If you want, you can use the VALUE function here to convert the text string to numeric value by following the method explained in Using LEFT with VALUE section.

Use the Fill Handle to AutoFill the formula in the other cells.

Method 3 – Applying the MID Function for the First 3 Characters From a Cell

STEPS:

Select cell
Enter the following formula in the selected cell or Formula Bar:

=MID(B4,1,3)

In the MID function, I selected cell B4 as text, start_num 1, and num_chars 3. The MID function will extract the characters starting from the 1st character to the 3rd character.
Press ENTER.
You will see the extracted 3 characters in the Order Number column.

Use the Fill Handle to AutoFill the formula in the other cells.

To get the results in text format, use MID with the VALUE Function.

Method 4 – Getting the First 3 Characters from a Cell Through Excel VBA

STEPS:

Open the Developer tab >> select Visual Basic.

It will open a new window of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications.
Go to Insert >> select Module.

Enter the code in the Module.

Sub Get_First_3Character()
Dim R As Integer
For R = 4 To 12
   ActiveSheet.Cells(R, 5).Value = Left(Cells(R, 2), 3)
Next R
End Sub

Here R represents the row numbers.
In the LEFT function the num_chars = 3.
Used a For loop to continue the process for the row range.
Save the code and go back to the worksheet.
Select cell C6.
Open the View tab >> from Macros >> select View Macro.

A dialog box will pop up. Select the Macro to Run.

From the dialog box select the Macro name Get_First_3Character.
You will see the character from the used row range in VBA is extracted in the column.