CLEAN Function

The CLEAN formula in Google Sheets is a simple but powerful tool that allows you to remove unwanted characters from text strings. Whether you’re working with data imported from a file or database, or you’re manually entering text into your spreadsheet, there’s a good chance that you’ll come across some text that contains unwanted characters such as spaces, tabs, or line breaks. These characters can cause problems with formulas and functions, and they can make your data harder to read and understand.

But with the CLEAN formula, you can easily remove these unwanted characters and make your data cleaner and more organized. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at the CLEAN formula and show you how to use it to remove unwanted characters from your text strings. We’ll also provide some examples and tips to help you get the most out of this useful formula. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user of Google Sheets, there’s sure to be something in this post that will help you improve the quality of your data and make your spreadsheets more efficient and effective.

Definition of CLEAN Function

The CLEAN function in Google Sheets is a built-in function that removes unwanted characters from text strings. It takes a single argument, the text string that you want to clean, and returns a new text string with the unwanted characters removed. The CLEAN function removes a wide range of unwanted characters, including spaces, tabs, line breaks, and control characters (ASCII codes 0-31 and 127). This can make it easier to work with your text data, and it can help prevent errors and inconsistencies in your formulas and functions. The CLEAN function is often used in combination with other functions, such as the TRIM function, to clean and format text data in Google Sheets.

Syntax of CLEAN Function

The syntax of the CLEAN function in Google Sheets is as follows:

=CLEAN(text)

where text is the text string that you want to clean. The text argument can be an individual value or a reference to a cell containing a text string. The CLEAN function will remove any unwanted characters from the text string and return a new text string with the unwanted characters removed.

For example, the following formula uses the CLEAN function to remove unwanted characters from the text string ” apples bananas cherries “:

=CLEAN(" apples bananas cherries ")

The result of this formula is “apples bananas cherries”, with the spaces, tabs, and line breaks removed. Note that the CLEAN function does not remove punctuation or other non-whitespace characters, only ASCII codes 0-31 and 127.

Examples of CLEAN Function

1. To remove unwanted characters from a text string, you can use the CLEAN function. For example, if you have a list of fruit names in cells A1:A3 and you want to remove any spaces, tabs, or line breaks from the text strings, you could use the following formula:

   =CLEAN(A1:A3)

   The result of this formula is an array of text strings with the unwanted characters removed (e.g. “apple”, “banana”, “cherry”). You can use the array result with other functions, such as the JOIN function, to combine the cleaned text strings into a single text string, or you can use it with the INDEX and MATCH functions to look up the cleaned text strings in another range of cells.

2. You can also use the CLEAN function in combination with other functions, such as the TRIM function, to clean and format text data in Google Sheets. For example, if you have a list of fruit names in cells A1:A3 and you want to remove any leading or trailing spaces from the text strings, you could use the following formula:

   =TRIM(CLEAN(A1:A3))

   This formula uses the CLEAN function to remove any unwanted characters from the text strings, and then uses the TRIM function to remove any leading or trailing spaces from the cleaned text strings. The result of this formula is an array of text strings with the unwanted characters and leading/trailing spaces removed (e.g. “apple”, “banana”, “cherry”).

3. You can also use the CLEAN function to remove unwanted characters from text entered manually into a cell. For example, if you have a cell with the text ” apples bananas cherries ” and you want to remove the spaces, tabs, and line breaks, you could use the following formula:

   =CLEAN(A1)

   This formula uses the CLEAN function to remove the unwanted characters from the text string in cell A1. The result of this formula is “apples bananas cherries”, with the spaces, tabs, and line breaks removed. You can then use the result of the formula in other formulas or functions, or you can copy and paste the cleaned text string into another cell or range of cells.

Use Case of CLEAN Function

Here are some examples of how you might use the CLEAN function in real-life scenarios:

1. In a customer survey, you have a column containing free-form responses to a question. Some of the responses may contain spaces, tabs, or line breaks that you want to remove to make the data easier to work with. You can use the CLEAN function to remove the unwanted characters from the text strings, and then use the TRIM function to remove any leading or trailing spaces. This can make it easier to analyze the responses and identify common themes or patterns in the data.
2. In a sales report, you have a column containing product names that may have been entered manually or imported from a file or database. Some of the product names may contain spaces, tabs, or line breaks that you want to remove to make the data consistent and easy to work with. You can use the CLEAN function to remove the unwanted characters from the text strings, and then use the UPPER or LOWER function to convert the text to all upper- or lowercase. This can make it easier to look up the product names in other ranges of cells or to create formulas that use the product names as input.
3. In a budget spreadsheet, you have a column containing descriptions of expenses that may have been entered manually or imported from a file or database. Some of the descriptions may contain spaces, tabs, or line breaks that you want to remove to make the data more organized and easier to read. You can use the CLEAN function to remove the unwanted characters from the text strings, and then use the LEFT or RIGHT function to extract the first or last word from the cleaned text strings.

Limitations of CLEAN Function

There are a few limitations to the CLEAN function in Google Sheets that you should be aware of. These include:

1. The text argument must be a text string or a reference to a cell containing a text string. This means that you cannot use a formula or expression as the text argument, and you cannot use a non-text value (e.g. a number or date) as the text argument.
2. The CLEAN function only removes ASCII codes 0-31 and 127 from the text string. This means that it does not remove punctuation, non-printing characters, or other non-whitespace characters. If you want to remove these characters from the text string, you will need to use other functions, such as the SUBSTITUTE function, to replace the characters with an empty string.
3. The CLEAN function only removes unwanted characters from the text string. It does not perform any other operations on the text string, such as converting the text to uppercase or lowercase, extracting a specific part of the text, or concatenating multiple text strings. If you want to perform these operations on the cleaned text string, you will need to use other functions, such as the UPPER, LOWER, LEFT, or RIGHT functions, to modify the text as needed.

Commonly Used Functions Along With CLEAN

Some commonly used functions that are often used in combination with the CLEAN function in Google Sheets include the TRIM function, the SUBSTITUTE function, and the UPPER/LOWER functions.

1. The TRIM function is often used with the CLEAN function to remove any leading or trailing spaces from a text string. For example, you might use the CLEAN function to remove any unwanted characters from the text string, and then use the TRIM function to remove any remaining leading or trailing spaces. This can make your text data more organized and consistent, and it can help prevent errors and inconsistencies in your formulas and functions.
2. The SUBSTITUTE function is often used with the CLEAN function to replace specific characters or substrings in a text string with an empty string. For example, you might use the CLEAN function to remove any unwanted characters from the text string, and then use the SUBSTITUTE function to remove any punctuation or other non-whitespace characters that were not removed by the CLEAN function. This can make your text data more clean and consistent, and it can help you extract specific parts of the text string for use in other formulas or functions.
3. The UPPER/LOWER functions are often used with the CLEAN function to convert the text in a text string to uppercase or lowercase. For example, you might use the CLEAN function to remove any unwanted characters from the text string, and then use the UPPER or LOWER function to convert the text to all uppercase or lowercase. This can make it easier to look up the text string in other ranges of cells or to create formulas that use the text string as input.

Summary

The CLEAN function in Google Sheets is a simple but powerful tool that allows you to remove unwanted characters from text strings. It is often used in combination with other functions, such as the TRIM and SUBSTITUTE functions, to clean and format text data in Google Sheets.

Some key points to remember about the CLEAN function include:

• The text argument must be a text string or a reference to a cell containing a text string.
• The CLEAN function only removes ASCII codes 0-31 and 127 from the text string.
• The CLEAN function only removes unwanted characters from the text string. It does not perform any other operations on the text.
• The CLEAN function only works with text strings, not formulas or expressions.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to remove unwanted characters from your text data, try using the CLEAN function in your own Google Sheets. It can save you time and make your spreadsheets more efficient and versatile.