Excel: last character/string match in a string

📝 Hey there tech enthusiasts! Are you struggling to find an efficient way to identify the last character or string match in a given string using base Excel functions? Well, fret no more! 🤔💡

💥 Today, we'll tackle the common issue of determining the position of the last occurrence of a character or string within a string, without the need for lengthy recursive algorithms. Let's dive in! 💪

🎯 To understand the problem better, let's consider an example: Suppose we have the string "Hello World" and we want to find the position of the last occurrence of the character 'o'. How can we achieve this using Excel's built-in functions? 🤔

🔄 Unfortunately, Excel's native functions like SEARCH and FIND work from left to right, so they won't give us the desired result – they can only find the first occurrence. But don't despair just yet! 😎

🔧 A handy trick is to utilize a combination of functions to achieve our goal. Here's a nifty solution:

1️⃣ First, we'll use the LEN function to determine the length of the string. In our example, since "Hello World" has 11 characters, we get 11 as the result. 📏

2️⃣ Next, we'll apply the SUBSTITUTE function to replace the desired character or string with an empty string. For instance, SUBSTITUTE("Hello World", "o", "") will give us "Hell Wrld". 🔀

3️⃣ Now, we'll subtract the length of the modified string from the length of the original string. So, in our case, the formula becomes LEN("Hello World") - LEN("Hell Wrld"), resulting in 4. This tells us that the last occurrence of 'o' is in the 4th position from the right. 💡

🎉 Voilà! 🎉 By using this combination of functions, you can easily find the position of the last occurrence of any character or string within a given string in Excel! ⚡

📣 We've solved the problem, but the journey doesn't end here, my friend! We encourage you to experiment with different scenarios and unleash the power of Excel's functions. Share your experiences in the comments below! Let's geek out together and inspire one another! 🚀

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