How to Use the REPLACE Function to Replace and Calculate in Excel Formula

The REPLACE function in Excel is a text function that allows you to replace a part of a text string with another text string. You can use this function to modify the contents of a cell, or to create a new text value based on an existing one.

The syntax of the REPLACE function is:

REPLACE(old_text, start_num, num_chars, new_text)

where:

• old_text is the original text string that you want to modify.
• start_num is the position of the first character that you want to replace, starting from 1.
• num_chars is the number of characters that you want to replace.
• new_text is the new text string that you want to insert.

For example, the formula =REPLACE("Hello World", 7, 5, "Excel") will return “Hello Excel”, because it replaces the 5 characters starting from the 7th position (“World”) with the new text “Excel”.

How to Use the REPLACE Function to Replace and Calculate

You can use the REPLACE function to perform calculations based on the values in a text string. For example, if you have a text string that contains a number with a percentage sign, such as “25%”, and you want to convert it to a decimal value, such as 0.25, you can use the REPLACE function to remove the percentage sign and divide the result by 100.

The formula to do this is:

=REPLACE(A1, LEN(A1), 1, "")/100

where:

• A1 is the cell that contains the text string with the percentage sign.
• LEN(A1) is a function that returns the length of the text string in A1, which is 3 in this case.
• 1 is the number of characters that you want to replace, which is the percentage sign in this case.
• "" is the new text that you want to insert, which is nothing in this case.

This formula will replace the last character of the text string in A1 (the percentage sign) with nothing, and then divide the result by 100. For example, if A1 contains “25%”, the formula will return 0.25.

Example Scenario

Suppose you have a list of products and their prices in column A and B, and you want to calculate the total amount after applying a discount of 10%. However, the prices in column B are formatted as text strings with a dollar sign, such as “$50.00”. You can use the REPLACE function to remove the dollar sign and convert the text values to numbers, and then multiply them by 0.9 to get the discounted prices.

The formula to do this is:

=REPLACE(B2, 1, 1, "")*0.9

where:

• B2 is the cell that contains the text string with the dollar sign.
• 1 is the position of the first character that you want to replace, which is the dollar sign in this case.
• 1 is the number of characters that you want to replace, which is also the dollar sign in this case.
• "" is the new text that you want to insert, which is nothing in this case.
• 0.9 is the factor that you want to multiply the result by, which is 10% less than 1.

This formula will replace the first character of the text string in B2 (the dollar sign) with nothing, and then multiply the result by 0.9. For example, if B2 contains “$50.00”, the formula will return 45.

You can copy this formula down to the other cells in column C to get the discounted prices for all the products. Then, you can use the SUM function to get the total amount in cell C7.

The formula to do this is:

=SUM(C2:C6)

This formula will add up all the values in the range C2:C6 and return the sum. For example, if C2:C6 contains 45, 36, 27, 18, and 9, the formula will return 135.

Here is an Excel table that shows the example scenario:

Other Approaches

There are other ways to achieve the same result as using the REPLACE function to replace and calculate in Excel formula. Here are some of them:

• You can use the VALUE function to convert a text string to a number, and then perform the calculation. For example, the formula =VALUE(B2)*0.9 will return the same result as =REPLACE(B2, 1, 1, "")*0.9.
• You can use the RIGHT function to extract the part of the text string that contains the number, and then perform the calculation. For example, the formula =RIGHT(B2, LEN(B2)-1)*0.9 will return the same result as =REPLACE(B2, 1, 1, "")*0.9.
• You can use the SUBSTITUTE function to replace a specific text string with another text string, and then perform the calculation. For example, the formula =SUBSTITUTE(B2, "$", "")*0.9 will return the same result as =REPLACE(B2, 1, 1, "")*0.9.