This article describes the formula syntax and usage of the LEN functions in Microsoft Excel.
Description
LEN returns the number of characters in a text string.
Syntax
LEN(text)
The LEN function's syntax has the following arguments:
-
Text Required. The text whose length you want to find. Spaces count as characters.
Example
Copy the example data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press Enter. If you need to, you can adjust the column widths to see all the data.
|
Data |
Phoenix, AZ |
Formula |
=LEN(B1) |
=LEN(B2) |
=LEN(B3) |
|
Description |
Length of the first string |
Length of the second string |
Length of the third string, which includes eight spaces |
||
|
One |
Result |
11 |
0 |
11 |
Important:
-
The LENB function is deprecated.
-
In workbooks set to Compatibility Version 2, LEN has improved behavior with Surrogate Pairs, counting them as one character instead of two. Variation Selectors (commonly used with emojis) will still be counted as separate characters. Read more here: The Unicode standard
