Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Using the REPT Function.
Excel includes a worksheet function that allows you to repeat a text string any number of times: REPT. For instance, suppose cell B1 contains the value 5 and cell C1 contains the following:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
=REPT("*", B1)
What Excel shows is five asterisks (*****) in cell C1. REPT takes whatever is in the quote marks and repeats it the number of times specified. If the string is more than one character, then it is also repeated that number of times. For instance, consider the following:
=REPT("/\", B1)
Assuming B1 still contains the value 5, the formula results in a ten-character string: /\/\/\/\/\. If you don't typically wax graphic or want to use Excel's charting features, you can use the REPT function to create simple histograms of your data.
The only caveat is that the string created by REPT cannot be any longer than 32,767 characters. If you exceed this limit you won't get an error, you just get a truncated string.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12140) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Using the REPT Function.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
Got a ton of names from which you need to select a few random names? There are several ways you can extract what you ...
Discover MoreNeed to know which week of the year a particular date falls within? Excel provides the WEEKNUM function so you can easily ...
Discover MoreGrading in schools is often done using numeric values. However, you may want to change those numeric values into letter ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2016-11-26 06:25:26
Michael (Micky) Avidan
@Mark,
One and common use is as follows:
Assume a string, in cell A1, such as: go.USA.brand
In order to extract the last word (same from any other string with unknown numer of periods) in cell B1 type:
=TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(A1,".",REPT(" ",256)),256))
--------------------------
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answers" - Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2017)
ISRAEL
2016-11-13 07:01:09
Mark Haywood
Can you give me an example of when and why you would need to use this function?
2016-11-12 11:50:27
David Gray
I have used REPT for years, often as not to insert spaces into the middle of a string. Anything that calls for a space character instead gets CHAR(32), which leaves no question that it's a SPACE, as opposed to some other invisible character.
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments