LEN Function (LibreOffice Calc)

• Counts characters in a text string
• Includes spaces, punctuation, and special characters
• Works with text, numbers (converted to text), and formulas
• Useful for validation, parsing, and cleaning workflows

It is designed to be simple, predictable, and universally compatible.

LEN(text)

Arguments

• text:
  The text string whose length you want to measure.

Count characters in a string

=LEN("Hello")

Returns 5.

Count characters in a cell

=LEN(A1)

Count characters in a number (converted to text)

=LEN(2024)

Returns 4.

Count characters including spaces

=LEN("A B C")

Returns 5.

Count characters without leading/trailing spaces

=LEN(TRIM(A1))

Count characters excluding all spaces

=LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1; " "; ""))

Validate fixed‑length codes

=IF(LEN(A1)=10; "Valid"; "Invalid")

Extract last N characters using LEN

=RIGHT(A1; LEN(A1)-3)

Extract text after a delimiter

=RIGHT(A1; LEN(A1) - FIND("-"; A1))

Extract text before a delimiter

=LEFT(A1; FIND("-"; A1) - 1)

Count characters in a cleaned string

=LEN(CLEAN(A1))

Count characters in Unicode strings

=LEN("✓✓✓")

Returns 3.

Dynamic MID extraction using LEN

=MID(A1; 2; LEN(A1)-2)

LEN counts all characters, including:

• Spaces
• Tabs
• Punctuation
• Unicode characters
• Invisible characters (unless cleaned)

LEN("") returns 0

=LEN("") → 0

LEN of a blank cell returns 0

=LEN(A1) → 0 if A1 is empty

LEN of a number converts it to text

=LEN(123) → 3

LEN of an error propagates the error

=LEN(#N/A) → #N/A

LEN does not count bytes

For byte length, Excel uses LENB — LibreOffice does not.

LEN respects Unicode but may treat combining marks as separate characters

=LEN("é")

May return 2 depending on composition.

• Use LEN to validate text length and enforce formats
• Combine with LEFT/RIGHT/MID for dynamic extraction
• Use TRIM and CLEAN before measuring length
• Use SUBSTITUTE to remove characters before counting
• Use LEN to detect empty strings vs blanks

• Use LEFT, RIGHT, MID for extraction
• Use FIND and SEARCH to locate delimiters
• Use TRIM and CLEAN to normalize text
• Use SUBSTITUTE to remove characters
• Use LENB in Excel for byte‑length (not supported in Calc)

By mastering LEN and its companion functions, you can build precise, flexible, and robust text‑processing workflows in LibreOffice Calc.