How do a break apart a persons name listed in one column, i.e. - John Smith, into two columns, i.e- column A-John, column B-Smith?

Question

I need to sort data in an excel spreadsheet by last name but currently all the data in the column is listed as first name, last name. Is there a way I can break this data apart into two new columns, first name and last name?

Answer 1

Try to enter this formula to A1: =TEXTSPLIT(E1," ",,TRUE), where E1 contains “John Smith” (for example). The results will appear in A1 and B1.

If required, use ; instead of ,.

You can also put =TEXTBEFORE(E1," ") in A1 and =TEXTAFTER(E1," ") in B1.