
- Excel Functions - Home
- Compatibility Functions
- Compatibility Functions
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- GAMMADIST Function
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- LOGINV Function
- LOGNORMDIST Function
- MODE Function
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- NORMDIST Function
- NORMINV Function
- NORMSDIST Function
- NORMSINV Function
- PERCENTILE Function
- PERCENTRANK Function
- POISSON Function
- QUARTILE Function
- RANK Function
- STDEV Function
- STDEVP Function
- TDIST Function
- TINV Function
- TTEST Function
- VAR Function
- VARP Function
- WEIBULL Function
- ZTEST Function
- Logical Functions
- Logical Functions
- AND Function
- FALSE Function
- IF Function
- IFERROR Function
- IFNA Function
- IFS Function
- NOT Function
- OR Function
- SWITCH Function
- TRUE Function
- XOR Function
- Text Functions
- Text Functions
- ARRAYTOTEXT Function
- BAHTTEXT Function
- CHAR Function
- CLEAN Function
- CODE Function
- CONCAT Function
- CONCATENATE Function
- DBCS Function
- DOLLAR Function
- Exact Function
- FIND Function
- FINDB Function
- FIXED Function
- LEFT Function
- LEFTB Function
- LEN Function
- LENB Function
- LOWER Function
- MID Function
- MIDB Function
- NUMBERVALUE Function
- PHONETIC Function
- PROPER Function
- REPLACE Function
- REPLACEB Function
- REPT Function
- RIGHT Function
- RIGHTB Function
- SEARCH Function
- SEARCHB Function
- SUBSTITUTE Function
- T Function
- TEXT Function
- TEXTAFTER Function
- TEXTBEFORE Function
- TEXTJOIN Function
- TEXTSPLIT Function
- TRIM Function
- UNICHAR Function
- UNICODE Function
- UPPER Function
- VALUE Function
- VALUETOTEXT Function
- Date & Time Functions
- Date & Time Functions
- DATE Function
- DATEDIF Function
- DATEVALUE Function
- DAY Function
- DAYS Function
- DAYS360 Function
- EDATE Function
- EOMONTH Function
- HOUR Function
- ISOWEEKNUM Function
- MINUTE Function
- MONTH Function
- NETWORKDAYS Function
- NETWORKDAYS.INTL Function
- NOW Function
- SECOND Function
- TIME Function
- TIMEVALUE Function
- TODAY Function
- WEEKDAY Function
- WEEKNUM Function
- WORKDAY Function
- WORKDAY.INTL Function
- YEAR Function
- YEARFRAC Function
- Cube Functions
- Cube Functions
- CUBEKPIMEMBER Function
- CUBEMEMBER Function
- CUBEMEMBERPROPERTY Function
- CUBERANKEDMEMBER Function
- CUBESET Function
- CUBESETCOUNT Function
- CUBEVALUE Function
- Math Functions
- Math Functions
- ABS Function
- AGGREGATE Function
- ARABIC Function
- BASE Function
- CEILING.MATH Function
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- COMBINA Function
- DECIMAL Function
- DEGREES Function
- EVEN Function
- EXP Function
- FACT Function
- FACTDOUBLE Function
- FLOOR.MATH Function
- GCD Function
- INT Function
- LCM Function
- LN Function
- LOG Function
- LOG10 Function
- MDETERM Function
- MINVERSE Function
- MMULT Function
- MOD Function
- MROUND Function
- MULTINOMIAL Function
- MUNIT Function
- ODD Function
- PI Function
- POWER Function
- PRODUCT Function
- QUOTIENT Function
- RADIANS Function
- RAND Function
- RANDBETWEEN Function
- ROMAN Function
- ROUND Function
- ROUNDDOWN Function
- ROUNDUP Function
- SERIESSUM Function
- SIGN Function
- SQRT Function
- SQRTPI Function
- SUBTOTAL Function
- SUM Function
- SUMIF Function
- SUMIFS Function
- SUMPRODUCT Function
- SUMSQ Function
- SUMX2MY2 Function
- SUMX2PY2 Function
- SUMXMY2 Function
- TRUNC Function
- Trigonometric Functions
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- ACOS
- ACOSH Function
- ACOT Function
- ACOTH Function
- ASIN Function
- ASINH Function
- ATAN Function
- ATAN2 Function
- ATANH Function
- COS Function
- COSH Function
- COT Function
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- CSC Function
- CSCH Function
- SEC Function
- SECH Function
- SIN Function
- SINH Function
- TAN Function
- TANH Function
- Database Functions
- Database Functions
- DAVERAGE
- DCOUNT
- DCOUNTA
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- Dynamic Array Functions
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- SEQUENCE Function
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- UNIQUE Function
- XLOOKUP Function
- XMATCH Function
- Engineering Functions
- Engineering Functions
- BESSELI Function
- BESSELJ Function
- BESSELK Function
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- BIN2DEC Function
- BIN2HEX Function
- BIN2OCT Function
- BITAND Function
- BITLSHIFT Function
- BITOR Function
- BITRSHIFT Function
- BITXOR Function
- COMPLEX Function
- CONVERT Function
- DEC2BIN Function
- DEC2HEX Function
- DEC2OCT Function
- DELTA Function
- ERF Function
- ERF.PRECISE Function
- ERFC Function
- ERFC.PRECISE Function
- GESTEP Function
- HEX2BIN Function
- HEX2DEC Function
- HEX2OCT Function
- IMABS Function
- IMAGINARY Function
- IMARGUMENT Function
- IMCONJUGATE Function
- IMCOS Function
- IMCOSH Function
- IMCOT Function
- IMCSC Function
- IMCSCH Function
- IMDIV Function
- IMEXP Function
- IMLN Function
- IMLOG2 Function
- IMLOG10 Function
- IMPOWER Function
- IMPRODUCT Function
- IMREAL Function
- IMSEC Function
- IMSECH Function
- IMSIN Function
- IMSINH Function
- IMSQRT Function
- IMSUB Function
- IMSUM Function
- IMTAN Function
- OCT2BIN Function
- OCT2DEC Function
- OCT2HEX Function
- Financial Functions
- Financial Functions
- ACCRINT Function
- ACCRINTM Function
- AMORDEGRC Function
- AMORLINC Function
- COUPDAYBS Function
- COUPDAYS Function
- COUPDAYSNC Function
- COUPNCD Function
- COUPNUM Function
- COUPPCD Function
- CUMIPMT Function
- CUMPRINC Function
- DB Function
- DDB Function
- DISC Function
- DOLLARDE Function
- DOLLARFR Function
- DURATION Function
- EFFECT Function
- FV Function
- FVSCHEDULE Function
- INTRATE Function
- IPMT Function
- IRR Function
- ISPMT Function
- MDURATION Function
- MIRR Function
- NOMINAL Function
- NPER Function
- NPV Function
- ODDFPRICE Function
- ODDFYIELD Function
- ODDLPRICE Function
- ODDLYIELD Function
- PDURATION Function
- PMT Function
- PPMT Function
- PRICE Function
- PRICEDISC Function
- PRICEMAT Function
- PV Function
- RATE Function
- RECEIVED Function
- RRI Function
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- TBILLPRICE Function
- TBILLYIELD Function
- VDB Function
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- XNPV Function
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- YIELDMAT Function
- Information Functions
- Information Functions
- CELL Function
- ERROR.TYPE Function
- INFO Function
- ISBLANK Function
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- ISEVEN Function
- ISFORMULA Function
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- ISNONTEXT Function
- ISNUMBER Function
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- ISTEXT Function
- N Function
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- SHEETS Function
- TYPE Function
- Lookup & Reference Functions
- Lookup & Reference Functions
- ADDRESS Function
- AREAS Function
- CHOOSE Function
- COLUMN Function
- COLUMNS Function
- FORMULATEXT Function
- GETPIVOTDATA Function
- HLOOKUP Function
- HYPERLINK Function
- INDEX Function
- INDIRECT Function
- LOOKUP Function
- MATCH Function
- OFFSET Function
- ROW Function
- ROWS Function
- RTD Function
- TRANSPOSE Function
- VLOOKUP Function
- Statistical Functions
- Statistical Functions
- AVEDEV Function
- AVERAGE Function
- AVERAGEA Function
- AVERAGEIF Function
- AVERAGEIFS Function
- BETA.DIST Function
- BETA.INV Function
- BINOM.DIST Function
- BINOM.DIST.RANGE Function
- BINOM.INV Function
- CHISQ.DIST Function
- CHISQ.DIST.RT Function
- CHISQ.INV Function
- CHISQ.INV.RT Function
- CHISQ.TEST Function
- CONFIDENCE.NORM Function
- CONFIDENCE.T Function
- CORREL Function
- COUNT Function
- COUNTA Function
- COUNTBLANK Function
- COUNTIF Function
- COUNTIFS Function
- COVARIANCE.P Function
- COVARIANCE.S Function
- DEVSQ Function
- EXPON.DIST Function
- F.DIST Function
- F.DIST.RT Function
- F.INV Function
- F.INV.RT Function
- F.TEST Function
- FISHER Function
- FISHERINV Function
- FORECAST Function
- FORECAST.ETS Function
- FORECAST.ETS.CONFINT Function
- FORECAST.ETS.SEASONALITY Function
- FORECAST.ETS.STAT Function
- FORECAST.LINEAR Function
- FREQUENCY Function
- GAMMA Function
- GAMMA.DIST Function
- GAMMA.INV Function
- GAMMALN Function
- GAMMALN.PRECISE Function
- GAUSS Function
- GEOMEAN
- GROWTH
- HARMEAN
- HYPGEOM.DIST
- INTERCEPT Function
- KURT Function
- LARGE Function
- LINEST Function
- LOGEST Function
- LOGNORM.DIST Function
- LOGNORM.INV Function
- MAX Function
- MAXA Function
- MAXIFS Function
- MEDIAN Function
- MIN Function
- MINA Function
- MINIFS Function
- MODE.MULT Function
- MODE.SNGL Function
- NEGBINOM.DIST Function
- NORM.DIST Function
- NORM.INV Function
- NORM.S.DIST Function
- NORM.S.INV Function
- PEARSON Function
- PERCENTILE.EXC
- PERCENTILE.INC
- PERCENTRANK.EXC
- PERCENTRANK.INC
- PERMUT
- PERMUTATIONA
- PHI
- POISSON.DIST
- PROB
- QUARTILE.EXC
- QUARTILE.INC
- RANK.AVG
- RANK.EQ
- RSQ
- SKEW
- SKEW.P
- SLOPE
- SMALL
- STANDARDIZE
- STDEV.P
- STDEV.S
- STDEVA
- STDEVPA
- STEYX
- T.DIST
- T.DIST.2T
- T.DIST.RT
- T.INV
- T.INV.2T
- T.TEST
- TREND
- TRIMMEAN Function
- VAR.P Function
- VAR.S Function
- VARA Function
- VARPA Function
- WEIBULL.DIST Function
- Z.TEST Function
- Web Functions
- Web Functions
- ENCODEURL Function
- FILTERXML Function
- WEBSERVICE Function
Excel - CLEAN Function
CLEAN Function
The Excel CLEAN function eradicates all nonprintable characters from the designated cell referring to a text. Business analysts and other Excel data players may benefit from the CLEAN function while importing datasets from external sources into Excel that contain useless line breaks and a bundle of nonprintable characters. It was first introduced in Excel 2000 and is supported in all subsequent Excel versions.
In the ANSI character set, the code ranges from 1 to 31 denotes nonprintable characters. The CLEAN function eliminates carriage returns, line feeds, and many more nonprintable characters.
Compatibility
This prominent CLEAN function is compatible with the following versions of MS Excel −
- Excel for Microsoft 365
- Excel for Microsoft 365 for Mac
- Excel for the web
- Excel 2024
- Excel 2024 for Mac
- Excel 2021
- Excel 2021 for Mac
- Excel 2019
- Excel 2016
- Excel 2013
- Excel 2010
- Excel 2007
Syntax
The syntax of the CLEAN function is as follows −
CLEAN (text)
Arguments
The CLEAN function contains only one argument –
Argument | Description | Required / Optional |
---|---|---|
Text | A cell reference from where you can eliminate the unwanted nonprintable characters. | Required |
Point To Remember
- The CLEAN function will not work for the ANSI character set range from 32 to 255, as the exact input text string will be retrieved.
- If the argument contains the error value, then the CLEAN function will return the same error value.
Use of CLEAN Function
Below are the crucial steps to execute the CLEAN function −
- Open a desired Excel worksheet.
- Import the dataset from the external source or enter the sample dataset.
- Select the targeted cell, type the =sign, and then write the CLEAN(cell reference).
- Hit the Enter tab to get the result.
Examples of CLEAN Functions
Practice the following example to learn the use of the CLEAN function in Excel.
Example 1: Remove Non-Printable Characters Using CLEAN Function
The CLEAN function is used to remove non-printable characters from a text string.
Solution
Step 1 − Consider the sample dataset comprises two columns named Text and Function. Choose the C2 cell and write the formula =CLEAN(B2).

Step 2 − Once you press the Enter, the CLEAN function will retrieve the "Accessibility" result.

In a similar way, write the formula =CLEAN(B3) in the C3 cell and press the Enter tab.

Therefore, the CLEAN function will return the "Adaptability" as a result.

Example 2: Remove Carriage Return Using CLEAN Function
The CLEAN function is use to remove unwanted characters from text, like blank spaces or special codes that don't print, such as the end of line marker often found in text files.
Solution
Step 1 − First, assume the sample dataset where nonprintable characters are specified in the B column.

Step 2 − After that, to remove the line breaks and other nonprintable characters in the B2 cell, enter the formula =CLEAN(B2) in C2 cell.

And then, hit the Enter tab to extract the text without nonprintable character.

As you can notice in this example, the text string is displayed consecutively without the line breaks.
Step 3 − Afterward, select the C2 cell and drag the + sign(Fill handle) located at right bottom corner of the cell and place it into the C4 cell.

Therefore, the data cleaning process is done through the CLEAN function.
Download Practice Sheet
You can download and use the sample data sheet to practice the CLEAN function.