FORMULA & SQL / TEXT
Clean up text.
Tested, not guessed.
The Excel and Google Sheets formula and the SQL query, each run on the rows below. Open this with your own data ↗
The example rows
| Row | A: Region | B: Rep | C: Amount | D: Order Date | E: Status | F: Customer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | North | Ana | 1,200 | 2026-03-01 | Paid | Jo Smith |
| 3 | South | Ben | 450 | 2026-03-15 | Open | Raj Patel |
| 4 | North | Cy | 300 | 2026-04-02 | Paid | Lee Wong |
| 5 | East | Ana | 980.50 | 2026-04-20 | Paid | Mia Ross |
| 6 | North | Ben | 75 | 2026-05-05 | Open | Jo Smith |
| 7 | West | Dee | 1,640 | 2026-05-18 | Paid | Sam Okoro |
The formula
Excel
=TRIM(A2)
Region (A2) with extra spaces removed.
Run on the example rows:
| Row | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | North |
| 3 | South |
| 4 | North |
| 5 | East |
| 6 | North |
| 7 | West |
The SQL
PostgreSQL
SELECT TRIM(region) AS cleaned FROM sales
Run on the example rows:
| cleaned |
|---|
| North |
| South |
| North |
| East |
| North |
| West |
Other databases
MySQL
SELECT TRIM(region) AS cleaned FROM sales
SQL Server
SELECT TRIM(region) AS cleaned FROM sales
SQLite
SELECT TRIM(region) AS cleaned FROM sales
BigQuery
SELECT TRIM(region) AS cleaned FROM sales
Snowflake
SELECT TRIM(region) AS cleaned FROM sales
Your own data
Paste your rows into the free tool and it writes this for your columns, then runs it on your data before you copy it. Open the tool ↗