Formula to split up / break down long strings of text

Hi, Hope you're all keeping well.

I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction of a formula / function that can help break down large sections of text. If someone could point me in the right direction, I should be able to work out the nuances and implementation myself.

I have an API that exports data into a single column. I need this information spread out over a number of different columns.

Screenshot of the Smartsheet below, and a highlighted version from word showing the individual columns required.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Note: the start of the text extract required will always be a product code, i.e "K Pegs" or "WBS1(425)" etc from the example below. Although the contents of each item will not always be equal in length - It will need to extract data starting from one product code, and ending before the next product code.

Cheers all who have read!

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MedaUser

I've recently tried outsmarting the formulas with using MID, LEFT, and RIGHT formulas for something like this, but was unable to figure it out. Unfortunately, I don't think any formula/functions exist at the moment in the Smartsheet formula library.

Glen Urquhart

Ah shame. I had considered those, however thought there may be some cell search / extract formula I was unaware of.

Thanks for your time!

MedaUser

It may be possible with one of their add-on integrations, but not in the core platform that I've found. Let me know if you discover a solution though!

Andrée Starå

Hi @Glen Urquhart

I hope you're well and safe!

I might have a solution, but could you share the text without the coloring and on separate rows instead?

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Glen Urquhart

Of course, thank you Andrée.

Please see below 2 examples of what the text may look like:

First export from API (broken into separate lines for each product)

K Pegs (Amount: 2.50 GBP, Quantity: 19, Color: Black RAL 9005),WBS1(425) Shelf unit with integrated peg rail (Amount: 202.00 GBP, Quantity: 5, Colour: Black RAL 9055, Length: 1200mm (8 pegs)),

WA(425) Wall and floor fixed bench with peg rails and shoe tray (Amount: 260.00 GBP, Quantity: 5, Colour: Dark Grey RAL 7043, Length: 1500mm (10 pegs), Height: Junior (400mm bench height)),

DRSC2 Door restrainer (Amount: 105.00 GBP, Quantity: 1, Colour: Green RAL 6005),

DRSC2 Door restrainer (polished stainless steel finish (Amount: 218.00 GBP, Quantity: 1),

N600(LT) Fixed Grab Rail (Amount: 28.00 GBP, Quantity: 1, Colour: White RAL 9010),GBP,2,708.50,

Array

Second export from API (broken into separate lines for each product)

K Pegs (Amount: 2.50 GBP, Quantity: 19, Color: Black RAL 9005),

WBS1(425) Shelf unit with integrated peg rail (Amount: 202.00 GBP, Quantity: 5, Colour: Black RAL 9055, Length: 1200mm (8 pegs)),

WA(425) Wall and floor fixed bench with peg rails and shoe tray (Amount: 260.00 GBP, Quantity: 5, Colour: Dark Grey RAL 7043, Length: 1500mm (10 pegs), Height: Junior (400mm bench height)),

DRSC2 Door restrainer (Amount: 105.00 GBP, Quantity: 1, Colour: Green RAL 6005),

DRSC2 Door restrainer (polished stainless steel finish (Amount: 218.00 GBP, Quantity: 1),

N600(LT) Fixed Grab Rail (Amount: 28.00 GBP, Quantity: 1, Colour: White RAL 9010),GBP,2,708.50,

Array

Cheers, Glen.

Glen Urquhart

Hi @Andrée Starå,

Hope you're well!

Did you have any luck in devising your work around on this?

Cheers!

Andrée Starå

@Glen Urquhart

Happy to help!

Thanks!

Yes, I have a starting point that you can continue to tweak, so it works for you.

It's pretty advanced, but I'll get back to the post with the solution. (It's a client solution I did a while ago, so it can probably be simplified)

Andrée Starå

@Glen Urquhart

Try something like this.

Column Name: Text (Where you paste the text)

Column Names: A, B, C, D, E, F (Where the formulas below would be used)

=LEFT(Text@row, FIND("),", Text@row) - 1)

=LEFT(SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:A@row, "),") + "),", ""), FIND("),", SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:A@row, "),") + "),", "")) - 1)

C (Usually, you'd drag the formula in B to all the other columns as needed, but because you don't have a delimiter in place that is always the same, you might need to tweak the formulas a little)

=LEFT(SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:B@row, "),") + "),", ""), FIND(")),", SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:B@row, "),") + "),", "")))

=LEFT(SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:C@row, "),") + "),", ""), FIND("),", SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:C@row, "),") + "),", "")) - 1)

=LEFT(SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:D@row, "),") + "),", ""), FIND("),", SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:D@row, "),") + "),", "")) - 1)

=LEFT(SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:E@row, "),") + "),", ""), FIND("),", SUBSTITUTE($Text@row, JOIN($A@row:E@row, "),") + "),", "")) - 1)

Make sense?

Did that work/help?

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Shawn Church

@Andrée Starå

Using your formulas I am attempting to split some text that I JOINed using "|" as a delimiter. I have 5 "question" columns (question 1...question 2...etc) where I would like to put the formulas and one column with the combined text.

I was able to pull out the first text easily enough...but I'm struggling with the next set of text

Here is the formula I keyed in column "Question 2":

=LEFT(SUBSTITUTE([Combined Questions]@row, JOIN([Question 1@row]:[Question 1]@row, "|") + "|", ""), FIND("|", SUBSTITUTE([Combined Questions]@row, JOIN([Question 1]@row:[Question 1]@row, "|") + "|", "")) - 1)

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