How to Regex Extract in Excel
You want one regex to pull the line and colour out of "SKU-A12-RED" into separate columns — but Excel's REGEXEXTRACT is 365-only and returns just one value. Here's why, and the one-click way.
Last updated: August 2026
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| SKU-A12-RED | → | line=A12 | colour=RED |
| pattern: (?<line>\w\d+)-(?<colour>\w+) | ||
Why Excel can't do it
REGEXEXTRACT only arrived recently and is Microsoft 365-only, so it fails on older Excel and many corporate installs — which have no regex at all. Even where it exists, it returns a single value, not a set of columns, so you'd have to run it once per capture group and stitch the results together. There's no native way to run one pattern and fan its groups out into columns.
The 1-click way — Tellsheet's Regex Extract to Columns
Select the column and run Regex Extract to Columns. Paste one regex with named capture groups — (?<line>\w\d+)-(?<colour>\w+) — and each group becomes its own new column, using the group name as the header, so SKU-A12-RED splits into line=A12 and colour=RED. Options for ignore case and header; non-matching rows just leave their columns blank. Pairs with Regex Find & Replace and Split Text into Columns.
Frequently asked questions
Does Excel support regex extraction?
Only REGEXEXTRACT, which is 365-only and single-value. Older Excel has no regex. Regex Extract to Columns works on any version.
How do the columns get named?
Named groups in your pattern become the column headers, so matches split into labelled fields.
Can it ignore case?
Yes — there's an ignore-case option, plus a header option for the new columns.
What if a row doesn't match?
Its new columns are left blank, so odd rows don't break the run — spot and fix them afterwards.
Related Excel guides
Regex extract in one click
Regex Extract to Columns runs one pattern over a column and splits every named group into its own column — on any Excel version.
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