📘 RIGHT Function | Extract Characters from the End of Text

“Need to grab the last few characters of a string? The RIGHT function does it precisely and easily.”

✅ 1. Overview

The RIGHT function extracts a specific number of characters from the right (end) of a string.
This is useful when dealing with codes, file names, phone numbers, and more.

✅ 2. Syntax

=RIGHT(text, [num_chars])

• text: The original text you want to extract from
• num_chars: (optional) Number of characters to extract from the right (defaults to 1)

✅ 3. Real-World Examples (4 Cases)

✦ Example 1: Extract last word of an address

=RIGHT("Seoul Gangnam-gu Yeoksam-dong", 9)

→ Result: Yeoksam-dong

✦ Example 2: Extract file extension

=RIGHT("report_2025.xlsx", 5)

→ Result: .xlsx

✦ Example 3: Extract last 4 digits of a phone number

=RIGHT("010-1234-5678", 4)

→ Result: 5678

✦ Example 4: Extract category from product code

=RIGHT("PRD-TSHIRT-001", 3)

→ Result: 001

✅ 4. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• What happens if I use a negative number?

→ The RIGHT function does not accept negative numbers. You’ll get a #VALUE! error.

• What if the number of characters to extract exceeds the text length?

→ It simply returns the entire original text.

• Does it work with non-English characters like Korean or Chinese?

→ Yes, each character is counted as 1 — regardless of language.

✅ 5. Pro Tips for Practical Use

• RIGHT is often used with LEFT and MID to process structured text like codes or IDs.
• Perfect for extracting trailing segments such as extensions, suffixes, or identifiers.
• You can simulate excluding the first few characters using:

=RIGHT(A1, LEN(A1)-3)

This gives all characters except the first three.

✅ 6. Function Comparison Table

✅ 7. Final Takeaway

“If your data is at the tail end of the string, the RIGHT function is your go-to tool.”