Function Problems

How to Extract Text Before a Less-Than Sign in Excel

Maira Mehtab Sep 22, 2026 868 views

Question details

The user needs to extract only the text that appears before a less-than sign (<) in a cell, typically to separate a person's name from an email address enclosed in angle brackets.

Product: Excel
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Cleaning up combined data within a spreadsheet where a cell contains both a name and an email address formatted like 'Name <email@example.com>'.
Observed behavior: The user wants to isolate the substring located before the first '<' symbol using a formula, without modifying the source cell manually.

Before you start

Verify that your target cells actually contain the less-than sign (<), as the formulas will return an error if the specified delimiter is missing from the text string.

Solution 1Recommended

Use the TEXTBEFORE Function (For Modern Excel Versions)

The TEXTBEFORE function is the most direct and efficient method to extract text appearing before a specific delimiter in newer spreadsheet versions.

This function is specifically designed to split strings by a delimiter and extract the preceding segment, making it perfect for isolating names before an angle bracket.

Select the destination cell

Click on an empty cell where you want the extracted text to appear.

Enter the TEXTBEFORE formula

Type the formula =TEXTBEFORE(A2, "<") assuming your data is located in cell A2.

Apply to remaining cells

Press Enter to view the result, then click and drag the fill handle (the small square at the bottom-right corner of the cell) down the column to apply this formula to your other data.

Solution 2

Use the LEFT and FIND Functions (For All Versions)

If you are using an older version of Excel that does not support the TEXTBEFORE function, combining LEFT and FIND achieves the exact same result.

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1. Open your workbook: Launch WPS Spreadsheet and open your file containing the combined names and email addresses.
2. Input the text extraction formula: Select an empty cell next to your data and enter =LEFT(A2, FIND("<", A2) - 1).
3. Fill the formula down the column: Press Enter to see the extracted text, then double-click the small square at the bottom-right of the cell to automatically fill the formula for all remaining rows.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if a cell doesn't contain a less-than sign?

If the '<' character is missing from the cell, both the FIND and TEXTBEFORE functions will return a formula error (like #VALUE! or #N/A). To prevent this, you can wrap your formula in the IFERROR function, such as =IFERROR(LEFT(A2, FIND("<", A2)-1), A2), which will return the original text instead of an error.

How do I remove the trailing space after extracting the name?

Because formats like 'John Doe <email>' have a space before the angle bracket, your extracted text might end with an unwanted trailing space. You can easily remove it by wrapping your entire formula in the TRIM function: =TRIM(LEFT(A2, FIND("<", A2) - 1)).

How can I extract the email address instead of the name?

To extract the text that comes after the less-than sign (the email address), you can use the TEXTAFTER(A2, "<") function in modern versions of Excel. In older versions, you can use the MID function combined with FIND, like =MID(A2, FIND("<", A2) + 1, LEN(A2)). You may also want to use the SUBSTITUTE function to remove the closing '>' bracket.

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