Google Sheets Function: SPLIT

The SPLIT function divides text based on a defined delimiter and places each fragment into a separate cell in the row.

Usage:

=SPLIT(text, delimiter)

or

=SPLIT(text, delimiter, split_by_each, remove_empty_text)

Example of Use

The goal here is to use a single SPLIT function per row to complete each column of the table:

Enter in the SPLIT function:

• text: the data to be divided
• delimiter: the delimiter(s)
• split_by_each: 1 (default) = each character in the delimiter will be considered a separate delimiter (for example, entering "/-", the text will be divided at "/" and "-"), 0 = the delimiter remains whole (for example, entering "/-", the text will be divided only at "/-")
• remove_empty_text: 1 (default) = empty fragments are removed, 0 = empty fragments are kept

The formula here is:

=SPLIT(A2,"/")

This formula is equivalent to:

=SPLIT(A2,"/",1,1)

Retrieve a Single Value

The SPLIT function returns an array of values, and the INDEX function returns one of the values from an array. Therefore, combining these two functions allows for returning a single fragment from SPLIT.

To return only the age (at column 3 of the table), enter:

=INDEX(SPLIT(A2,"/"),1,3)