SharePoint Calculated Column Get First Letter [2 Examples]

In this SharePoint Online tutorial, I will show you how to extract a first character of a text string by using a SharePoint calculated column. It can be done through a LEFT function, which returns a text string’s first character.

And also, we can specify the number of characters to be returned from a text string.

Example: This is a text string (Andrew); if we want to extract 4 characters, then it will give output as (Andr)].

And also, I will explain how to get a first character of a second string in a SharePoint Online list calculated column.

Get the First Letter using SharePoint Calculated Column

In this section, I will tell you how to get a first character of a text string in a SharePoint calculated column.

I have a SharePoint list named ‘User Details’ with a ‘Title’ column. Now based on that column, I will create a calculated column () by applying mentioned below:

• Title column – Renamed it to User Full Name.

Follow the below instructions to achieve it:

• Open a SharePoint Online list, Click on the +Add column, select See all column types, and Click Next.

• Then enter a Column name and select Calculated (calculation based on other columns) on Create column page.

• Insert the formula below to get a text string’s first character in the SharePoint calculated column in the Formula box. Then Click on the OK button.

=LEFT(Title,1)
Title - Renamed as User Full Name.

• The below screenshot shows the output in a calculated column, i.e., the first letter of a text string:

This is how to use a LEFT function in a SharePoint calculated column to get the first letter of a text string.

Get the First Character of Second string in a SharePoint Calculated Column

Now, I will explain how to extract the first character of a second string in a text in a SharePoint-calculated column.

• Open a SharePoint list and create a calculated column. Provide a column name in the Column name box on a create column page.
• Select the data type as Calculated (calculation based on other columns).

• Then, I applied the below-given formula in a formula box.
• The data type returned from this formula is: Choose the data type, the result value should be, and click OK.

=LEFT(RIGHT(Title,LEN(Title)-INT(FIND(" ",Title))))
Title- Renamed to User Full Name 

• Then, it will create a calculated column in a SharePoint Online list showing the first letter of a second string.

This is about how to get the first character of a second text string in a SharePoint Online calculated column.

Conclusion

Through this Sharepoint tutorial, I have explained how to get the first letter of a text string in a SharePoint calculated column using the LEFT function. And also, I have demonstrated how to get the first character of a second text string in a SharePoint-calculated column.

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