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Hi, for my academic research database I’m trying to write a formula that will automatically extract a four-digit number from a cell (i.e. extracting year from a citekey).

For example (Citekey --> Year),
Downs1965NonmarketDecisionMaking --> 1965
Welborn1968BureaucracyAnthonyDowns --> 1968

Any ideas on how I might be able to do this? Thanks.

Welcome to the community, @M_W!

If those are the ONLY numeric digits within your entire text string, then you could do it with this formula:

VALUE(Citekey)

Hope this helps! If this answers your question, could you please mark this comment as the solution to your question? This will help other people who have a similar question. :slightly_smiling_face:

Welcome to the community, @M_W!

If those are the ONLY numeric digits within your entire text string, then you could do it with this formula:

VALUE(Citekey)

Hope this helps! If this answers your question, could you please mark this comment as the solution to your question? This will help other people who have a similar question. :slightly_smiling_face:


Thanks Scott!

It works perfectly well except for cells with a period (see screenshot below). Is there a way to make the value() formula work?

Thanks Scott!

It works perfectly well except for cells with a period (see screenshot below). Is there a way to make the value() formula work?


If you have periods, then use this formula:

VALUE(SUBSTITUTE(Citekey,".",""))

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