INCLUDE( ) function

Returns a string that includes only the specified characters.

Syntax

INCLUDE(string, characters_to_include)

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
string	character	The value to restrict to included characters.
characters_to_include	character	The list of characters to include. If you specify double quotation marks in characters_to_include, you must enclose the list of characters in single quotation marks. For example: '"-/' Note If a character you specify to include does not appear in string, it is not included in the return value.

Output

Character.

Examples

Basic examples

Returns "123", which is the input string with only numbers included:

INCLUDE("123 Main St.", "0123456789")

Returns "1231234", which is the input string with only numbers included:

INCLUDE("123-123-4", "1243")

Returns "" (nothing), because the input string does not contain "D":

INCLUDE("ABC", "D")

Remarks

How it works

The INCLUDE( ) function compares each character in string with the characters listed in characters_to_include. If a match occurs, the character is included in the output string.

No matching characters

If there are no matches between string and characters_to_include the output of the function is blank.

Case sensitivity

The INCLUDE( ) function is case-sensitive. If you specify "ID" in characters_to_include, these characters are not included in "id#94022". If there is a chance the case may be mixed, use the UPPER( ) function to convert string to uppercase.

For example:

INCLUDE(UPPER("id#94022"), "ID0123456789")

Usage tip

Use INCLUDE( ) if the set of characters you want to include is small, and the set you want to exclude is large.

Related functions

The INCLUDE( ) function is the opposite of the EXCLUDE( ) function.