LEN Function in Google Sheets: Explained

In this article, you will learn how to use the LEN formula in Google Sheets.

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How does the LEN function work in Google Sheets

The LEN formula counts the number of characters in a given text string. The LEN function is useful when you simply count the number of letters in a cell or check whether the number of characters in a cell meets the maximum or minimum requirements.

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How to use the LEN function in Google Sheets

1. Type “=LEN” or go to “Insert” → “Function” (or directly navigate to the “Functions” icon)  → “Text” → “LEN”.
2. Input a decimal Unicode by manual input or cell reference.
3. Press the “Enter” key.

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The general syntax is as follows:

=LEN(text)

Text: a text string whose number of characters to be counted

Note: The LEN function counts all characters, including spaces. If you have unexpected values returned by the LEN formula, ensure you don’t have such special letters in the original text strings. When you input text manually, don’t forget to enclose them with quotation marks.

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Look at the following examples in the screenshot. As you can see, it is simple to use this formula. Once you input text or select a cell containing a text string, the LEN function immediately returns the number of characters in the chosen text.

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As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, you can leverage this function to confirm if a specific text meets a criterion on character count or not. Assume you want to test if each text string includes ten or more characters. You can use the IF function with the LEN function in the following steps.

1. Enter text strings whose number of characters you want to check (shown in Column B)
2. Count the number of characters in each text by the LEN function (shown in Column C)
3. Check whether the returned number for each text is ten or over by the IF function (shown in Column D)

In the upper table, you have three columns (Columns B to D), “Text string”, “Outcome”, and “Test (Min: 10)”, which correspond to each step above. However, as seen in the lower table, you can combine the two formulas by incorporating the LEN function in the IF function.

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What are the other tips or formulas on text in Google Sheets?

Check the following articles if you are interested in formatting text in cells.
How to Make Text Bold, Italic, and Strikethrough in Google Sheets
How to Align Text in Google Sheets
How to Wrap Text in Cell in Google Sheets
How to Rotate Text in Google Sheets
How to Change Default Font in Google Sheets
How to Indent Texts in Google Sheets: Explained
‍‍How to Capitalize the First Letter in Google Sheets
‍How to Capitalize All Letters in Google Sheets
How to Make All Letters Lowercase in Google Sheets
TEXT Function in Google Sheets: Explained

Do you want to learn how to combine or split text in Google Sheets?
How to Combine Texts in Google Sheets
CONCAT Function in Google Sheets: Explained
How to Use the CONCATENATE function in Google Sheets
How to Split Texts into Columns in Google Sheets
How to Use SPLIT Function in Google Sheets
CHAR Function in Google Sheets: Explained

Do you want to know where a specify character or word is in a text string?
LEFT Function in Google Sheets: Explained
How to Use RIGHT Function in Google Sheets
SEARCH Function in Google Sheets: Explained
FIND Function in Google Sheets: Explained

Do you need to replace a part of text with another characters or words?
How to Use REPLACE Function in Google Sheets
SUBSTITUTE Function in Google Sheets: Explained

Do you like to show a formulae in a cell?
How to Use FORMULATEXT Function in Google Sheets

Why don’t you double-check the spelling of your texts or cleaning up extra spaces before printing or closing Google Sheets?
How to Spell-check in Google Sheets
How to Trim Whitespaces in Google Sheets

You can repeat the same text string with this formula.
REPT Function in Google Sheets: Explained

You can learn about other Google Sheets formulas and tips that are not mentioned here on this page: LiveFlow‘s How to Guides

Analyze your live financial data in a snap

Are you learning this formula to visualize financial data, build a financial model, or conduct financial analysis? In that case, LiveFlow may help you automate manual workflows and update numbers in real-time. You can access various financial templates on our website, from the simple Income Statement to Multi-Currency Consolidated Financial Statement. You can also customize these templates as you want without breaking the automated data inflow.

To learn more about LiveFlow, book a demo.