How to Return the Nth Word from a String

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To Create the Custom Function

Type the following in a new Visual Basic module:

    Function FindNthWord(WordStrg As Variant, occur)
       ' Declare variables where WordStrg is the string whose Nth word you
       ' want to extract and occur is the number of the word (or Nth word)
       ' you want to extract from the string.
       Dim y, z As Integer
       Dim WordSearch()

       y = (Len(WordStrg) - (Len(Application.Substitute(WordStrg, " ", _
           "")))) / 1
       ReDim WordSearch(1 To (y + 1))
       z = 1
       For SearchLoop = 1 To y
           z = (InStr(z, WordStrg, " "))
           WordSearch(SearchLoop) = Left(WordStrg, z)
           WordStrg = Application.Trim(Mid(WordStrg, z + 1))
           z = 1
       Next SearchLoop
       WordSearch(y + 1) = WordStrg
       ' Assigns the result to the function.
       FindNthWord = WordSearch(occur)
   End Function
				

To Use the Custom Function

1. Enter the following in a worksheet:

         A1: For a comparison of Dow Jones               B1:
         A2: Industrial Averages and the price of this   B2:
         A3: stock over the same quarter, refer to the   B3:
         A4: next section of the worksheet.              B4:
   						

2. Type the following formula in cell B1:

   B1: =FindNthWord(A1,2)

3. With cell B1 selected, grab the fill handle and fill the formula down through cell B4.
4. The resulting worksheet looks like this:

         A1: For a comparison of Dow Jones               B1: a
         A2: Industrial Averages and the price of this   B2: Averages
         A3: stock over the same quarter, refer to the   B3: over
         A4: next section of the worksheet.              B4: section