How to remove spaces in Excel - leading, trailing, non-breaking
The tutorial explains how to remove blank spaces in Excel using formulas and the Text Toolkit tool. You will learn how to delete leading and trailing spaces in a cell, eliminate extra spaces between words, get rid of non-breaking white space and non-printing characters.
What's the biggest problem with spaces? They are often invisible to the human eye. An attentive user can occasionally catch a leading space hiding before the text or a few extra spaces between words. But there is no way to spot trailing spaces, those that keep out of sight at the end of cells.
It wouldn't be much of a problem if extra spaces were just lying around, but they mess up your formulas. The point is that two cells containing the same text with and without spaces, even if it's as little as a single space character, are deemed different values. So, you may be racking your brain trying to figure out why an obviously correct formula cannot match two seemingly identical entries.
Now that you are fully aware of the problem, it's time to work out a solution. There are several ways to remove spaces from string, and this tutorial will help you choose the technique best suited for your particular task and the data type you are working with.
How to remove blank spaces in Excel - leading, trailing, between words
If your data set contains superfluous spaces, the Excel TRIM function can help you delete them all in one go - leading, trailing and multiple in-between spaces, except for a single space character between words.
A regular TRIM formula is as simple as this:
=TRIM(A2)
Where A2 is the cell you want to delete spaces from.
As shown in the following screenshot, the Excel TRIM formula successfully eliminated all spaces before and after the text as well as consecutive spaces in the middle of a string.
And now, you only need to replace values in the original column with trimmed values. The easiest way to do this is using Paste Special > Values, the detailed instructions can be found here: How to copy values in Excel.
Additionally, you can use the Excel TRIM function to remove leading spaces only, keeping all spaces in the middle of a text string intact. The formula example is here:
How to trim leading spaces in Excel (Left Trim)
How to delete line breaks and nonprinting characters
When you import data from external sources, it's not only extra spaces that come along, but also various non-printing characters like carriage return, line feed, vertical or horizontal tab, etc.
The TRIM function can get rid of white spaces, but it cannot eliminate non-printing characters. Technically, Excel TRIM is designed to only delete value 32 in the 7-bit ASCII system, which is the space character.
To remove spaces and non-printing characters in a string, use TRIM in combination with the CLEAN function. As its names suggests, CLEAN is purposed for cleaning data, and it can delete any and all of the first 32 non-printing characters in the in the 7-bit ASCII set (values 0 through 31) including line break (value 10).
Assuming the data to be cleaned is in cell A2, the formula is as follows:
=TRIM(CLEAN(A2))
If the Trim/Clean formula joins the contents of multiple lines without spaces, you can fix it by using one of these techniques:
- Utilize the "Replace All" feature of Excel: in the "Find what" box, input a carriage return by pressing the Ctrl+J shortcut; and in the "Replace with" box, type a space. Clicking the Replace All button will swap all line breaks in the selected range for spaces.
- Use the following formula to substitute Carriage Return (value 13) and Line Feed (value 10) characters with spaces:
=SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2, CHAR(13)," "), CHAR(10), " ")
For more information, please see How to remove carriage returns (line breaks) in Excel.
How to remove non-breaking spaces in Excel
If after using the TRIM & CLEAN formula some stubborn spaces are still there, most likely you copy/pasted the data from somewhere and a few non-breaking spaces sneaked in.
To get rid of nonbreaking spaces (html character ), replace them with regular spaces, and then have the TRIM function remove them:
=TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A2, CHAR(160), " "))
To better understand the logic, let's break down the formula:
- A non-breaking character has value 160 in the 7-bit ASCII system, so you can define it by using the CHAR(160) formula.
- The SUBSTITUTE function is used to turn non-breaking spaces into regular spaces.
- And finally, you embed the SUBSTITUTE statement into the TRIM function to remove the converted spaces.
If your worksheet also contains non-printing characters, use the CLEAN function together with TRIM and SUBSTITUTE to get rid of spaces and unwanted symbols in one fell swoop:
=TRIM(CLEAN((SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160)," "))))
The following screenshot demonstrates the difference:
How to delete a specific non-printing character
If the liaison of 3 functions discussed in the above example (TRIM, CLEAN and SUBSTITUTE) was not able to eliminate spaces or non-printing characters in your sheet, it means those characters have ASCII values other than 0 to 32 (non-printing characters) or 160 (non-breaking space).
In this case, use the CODE function to identify the character value, and then employ SUBSTITUTE to replace it with a regular space and TRIM to remove the space.
Assuming the spaces or other undesirable characters that you want to get rid of reside in cell A2, you write 2 formulas:
- In cell B2, detect the problematic character value by using one of the following CODE functions:
- Leading space or non-printing character at the beginning of the string:
=CODE(LEFT(A2,1)) - Trailing space or non-printing character at the end of the string:
=CODE(RIGHT(A2,1)) - Space or non-printing character in the middle of the string, where n is the position of the problematic character:
=CODE(MID(A2, n, 1)))
In this example, we have some unknown non-printing character in the middle of the text, in the 4th position, and we find out its value with this formula:
=CODE(MID(A2,4,1))The CODE function returns value 127 (please see the screenshot below).
- Leading space or non-printing character at the beginning of the string:
- In cell C2, you replace CHAR(127) with a regular space (" "), and then trim that space:
=TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A2, CHAR(127), " "))
The result should look something similar to this:
If your data contains a few different non-printing chars as well as non-breaking spaces, you can nest two or more SUBSTITUTE functions to remove all unwanted character codes at a time:
=TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(A2, CHAR(127), " "), CHAR(160), " ")))
How to remove all spaces in Excel
In some situations, you may want to remove absolutely all white spaces in a cell, including single spaces between words or numbers. For example, when you have imported a numeric column where spaces are used as thousands separators, which makes it easier to read big numbers, but prevents your formulas from calculating.
To delete all spaces in one go, use SUBSTITUTE as explained in the previous example, with the only difference that you replace the space character returned by CHAR(32) with nothing (""):
=SUBSTITUTE(A2, CHAR(32), "")
Or, you can simply type the space (" ") in the formula, like this:
=SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","")
After that, replace formulas with values and your numbers will calculate properly.
How to count spaces in Excel
Before removing spaces from a certain cell, you may be curious to know how many of them are actually there.
To get the total count of spaces in a cell, do the following:
- Calculate the entire string length using the LEN function: LEN(A2)
- Substitute all spaces with nothing: SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","")
- Compute the length of the string without spaces: LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))
- Subtract the "space-free" string length from the total length.
Assuming the original text string is in cell A2, the complete formula goes as follows:
=LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))
To find out how many extra spaces are in the cell, get the text length without extra spaces, and then subtract it from the total string length:
=LEN(A2)-LEN(TRIM(A2))
The following screenshot demonstrates both formulas in action:
Now that you know how many spaces each cell contains, you can safely delete extra spaces using the TRIM formula.
Formula-free way to remove spaces and clean data
As you already know, many extra spaces and other unwelcome characters can lurk unnoticed in your sheets, especially if you import your data from external sources. You also know how to delete spaces in Excel with a formula. Of course, learning a handful of formulas is a good exercise to sharpen your skills, but it might be time-consuming.
Excel users who value their time and appreciate convenience can take advantage of the Text Tools included with our Ultimate Suite for Excel. One of these handy tools allows removing spaces and non-printing characters in a button click.
Once installed, Ultimate Suite adds several useful buttons to your Excel ribbon such as Trim Spaces, Remove Characters, Convert Text, Clear Formatting, and a few more.
Whenever you want to remove blank spaces in your Excel sheets, perform these 4 quick steps:
- Select the cells (range, entire column or row) where you want to delete extra spaces.
- Click the Trim Spaces button on the Ablebits Data tab.
- Choose one or several options:
- Remove leading and trailing spaces
- Trim extra spaces between words to one
- Delete non-breaking spaces ( )
- Click the Trim button.
Done! All extra spaces are deleted in a single click.
This is how you can quickly remove spaces in Excel cells. If you are curious to explore other capabilities, you are most welcome to download an evaluation version of the Ultimate Suite. I thank you for reading and look forward to seeing you on our blog next week!
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Table of contents
45 responses to "How to remove spaces in Excel - leading, trailing, non-breaking"
Hello Allo,
Thanks for posting about "TRIM" function. However I do have an excel having values with leading spaces. When used both Trim and Value(Trim) functions its not working. The leading space is still exists.
May I request some one to help...
Thanks!
ShriAkhilBansal
MrAmitBhatnagar
MrAbhayLodha
ShriAbhayGupta
AbhileshBabel
ArunBharatRam
VinnieMehta
I want to space in the All names. Please tell me formula n any path.
ShriAkhilBansal
e.g Shri Akhil Bansal
Have you tried using regular expression in excel vba?
Thanks Svetlana - my bugbear was the nbsp space which I didnt realise...yours was only article which addressed it. Many thanks indeed!
Table of Contents
Asia-Pacific
1 Fermented Plant Extract Overview
1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Fermented Plant Extract
=> I wanted to remove space between 'Table of Contents' & 'Asia-Pacific' in all row in excel sheet. can u pls sugg me the formula.
Hello,
For me to understand the problem better, please send me a small sample workbook with your source data and the result you expect to get to support@ablebits.com. Please don't worry if you have confidential information there, we never disclose the data we get from our customers and delete it as soon as the problem is resolved.
Please also don't forget to include the link to this comment into your email.
I'll look into your task and try to help.
Thanks for your sharing a good concept.
Thanks a lot for sharing the various possibilities in Trim function. It helped me to understand in detail.
Hi..
Thanks for detailed explanation.
I have data in a column and wouldn't like to use a helper column.
In this case how could remove spaces in a column in one go?
This was very helpful. The step by step suggestion actually resolved my challenges. Thank you.
This is an outstanding resource! Thanks so much for your help, Svetlana!
thanks for your precious post.
Get the space character in another cell using LEFT(cell,1) or whatever gets the trailing or leading character.
Copy the cell and paste into the replace dialog (CTRL H) "Find what" box. Leave the "Replace with" blank then change all.
Hello, So I have a COUNTA formula running, but it counts a cell even if people accidentally press a space. Is there a way to prevent it from counting those spaces?
Reihana:
Can you use COUNTIF or COUNTIFS instead of COUNTA?
COUNTIF and COUNTIFS and SUMPRODUCT is more flexible than COUNTA.
Hey Doug, thanks for responding.
Unfortunately, I don't have a criteria to use for the COUNTIF.
Basically, we are scanning serial number and there is no single criteria. I would have to use multiple criteria and I'm sure it'll slow down the document especially since I'm going to use it on 365 with multiple users.
Use the COUNTA (range) - (COUNTA (range)-COUNTIF(Range," ")) which will count the cells that have just a space.
Stunning Formulas. looking forward to get more infor.
Thank you SO much!!!
Fabulous reference article! 'nuff said!
Thanks!
Extremely helpful!! Thanks, I needed the Code step to figure out the HTML character that was being copied in with my data. All the steps were great!
Many Thanks.
Hello.
I have a range of cells (in Excel 2011) in columns with text. Some cells start with a space before the text.
I need to color (conditional formatting) the cells that start with 1 space (just 1, if there are more than 1 spaces before the text nothing should happen).
Tried lot of formulas, didn't succeed to find the right one.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Saul
=TRIM(CLEAN((SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160)," "))))
V,Good
Yes it worked. thanks
perfect
Trim! Yes, that worked for me! Thanks so much!
TRIM did not work for me, but RichardP's idea to use LEFT (comment 11) worked perfectly. All the text strings I had instantly converted to the date and time formats I was looking for.
This article saved my life!!! THANK YOU!!! I was struggling finding a way to clean up my google sheets, too many spaces in too many cells and over 5k rows to clean up. This was a godsend.
Hi Bob,
We have a special tool to trim spaces in Google Sheets in all cells at once, feel free to have a look: Remove Excess Spaces
This was perfect and did exactly what I needed. you think you know Excel and then along comes another feature to learn! Thanks.
The CODE function was helpful to find the offending character. Mine was 202. The SUBSTITUTE then worked like a charm.
Very helpful !
When I copied a table of numbers from a website, I had trouble converting the numbers stored as text into real numbers because of the "Non-Breaking Space" (NBS) character embedded in the data. By replacing "NBS" with the "normal space", it's way easier to work with the data. Thank god I find your article !
How to remove spaces between two or more than words in excel. for example I want "TheNPLCitation" from "The NPL Citation"
Hello!
Have you carefully studied this article?
You can remove spaces between words using the function SUBSTITUTE
Read the section above carefully How to remove all spaces in Excel
=SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","")
Thank you so much. Trim function didn't work initially.
I needed to use this one to clear out leading and trailing spaces TRIM alone didn't clear out.
Thank you.
=TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A2, CHAR(160)," "))
Sincerly
Jorge
ISSUE
7,980
20,590
37,575
25,985
19,000
10,420
2,295
275
1,175
3,490
3,930
1,175
3,925
SOLVE
275
1,175
1,175
2,295
3,490
3,925
3,930
7,980
10,420
19,000
20,590
25,985
37,575
Thank you so much. Trim function didn't work initially.
I needed to use this one to clear out leading and trailing spaces TRIM alone didn't clear out.
Thank you.
=TRIM(SUBSTITUTE(A2, CHAR(160)," "))
Regards,
Ravi
Hello all!
I have the below table in which I want to separate name and surname. I am able to do it using the the formula =LEFT(A1,(FIND(" ",A1,1)-1)) in column B and =MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1)+1,256) in column C. The problem arises when there is no surnmae. I want it to show just the name when there is no surname but it gives an error. How do I fix this
Tom Bran
Linda George
Samanta Fisher
Tommy Gill
Sam Harrison
Daniel
Lucy Greenton
Hello Richard!
If I got you right, the formula below will help you with your task:
=IFERROR(LEFT(A1,(FIND(" ",A1,1)-1)),A1)
and
=IFERROR(MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1)+1,256),"")
We have a tool that can solve your task in a couple of clicks:Ablebits Data - Split Names.
This tool is available as a part of our Ultimate Suite for Excel that you can install in a trial mode and use for free: https://www.ablebits.com/files/get.php?addin=xl-suite&f=free-trial
Hi,
I have a weird block inside of a cell. How do I delete it?
Hi Svetlana,
This article help me to solve my issue. I've use TRIM before but not aware about code(160) that can't removed neither by TRIM or CLEAN function but SUBTITUTE did it.
Thank you again.
the Formula "=TRIM(CLEAN((SUBSTITUTE(A2,CHAR(160)," "))))" was very useful. my problem solved in a minutes. Thank you
Thank You.
58 57 53
101 101 98
75 75 67
22 20 17
56 53 47
i tried all the techniques provided but still i can remove the spaces i fron and back of each numbers. for that i cant get the total sum as it counts only.
thanks in advance
Hello!
You don't need to remove spaces in front of numbers. Please check out this article to learn how to convert text to number with formula and other ways.
If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.
Thank you so much for this. I had a data report that pumped out 221 spaces in 1 empty row between rows with data in them. I was able to use your helpful advise and create a formula based on your formula: =SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","")
mine looks like this.
=SUBSTITUTE(Data!A1," ","")
THANK YOU ! THANK YOU!