How can I combine multiple nested Substitute functions in Excel?

Question

I am trying to set up a function to reformat a string that will later be concatenated. An example string would look like this:

Standard_H2_W1_Launch_123x456_         


        

Answer 1

I would use the following approach:

=SUBSTITUTE(LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-X),"_","-")

where X denotes the length of things you're not after. And, for X I'd use

(ISERROR(FIND("_S",A2,1))*2)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_40K",A2,1))*4)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_60K",A2,1))*4)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_AB",A2,1))*3)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_CD",A2,1))*3)+
(ISERROR(FIND("_EF",A2,1))*3)

The above ISERROR(FIND("X",.,.))*x will return 0 if X is not found and x (the length of X) if it is found. So technically you're trimming A2 from the right with possible matches.

The advantage of this approach above the other mentioned is that it's more apparent what substitution (or removal) is taking place, since the "substitution" is not nested.