Rational
Count a number of characters in a text string.
Description
The Excel LEN function counts a number of characters (letters & symbols) of a given text strings excluding number formatting like $ or % in a digit. For example, LEN(“Excel”) returns “5”.
Syntax
=LEN (text)
Parameters
text – The text to find the length.
Return Value
An integer referring the length of a text string.
Key Notes
- The LEN function is handy to calculate length of text, number, and dates.
- LEN function return number of characters of a text as it stores, not the way Excel display it. For Example, The LEN function count characters excluding number formatting (i.e. the length of “$100.00” is 3).
- Also, account for characters after decimals.
In Excel LEN function also include length of space like here in cell B6 it returns 18 i.e. it count space with string.
Keep Reading Similar Functions:

SEARCH
The SEARCH function finds the position of a specified character or sub-string within a text string. I.e., =SEARCH(“ring”,”String”,1) return “3”, “ring” begins at the third character of “String”.

EXACT
The Excel EXACT function display (True or False) after matching two text strings if they are exactly same. Also identifies case-sensitive differences between two text.

FIND
The FIND function returns the position of occurrence of a given character(s) in a string. i.e. to find the 2nd occurrence of 8, =FIND(8,128128,4) returns 6.