Convert date to month name

[ANE0709]

i have a date range in J that shows "1/9/2022 - 1/15/2022" which i need to convert to show the name of the month for the first date only. I was using =text(left(J2,10),"mmmm") before my file was corrupted. now im starting over and putting all formulas in from scratch. this one was working but isnt anymore. Any ideas why not and how to fix it?

 

[Akira181]

your formula is correct, cell format is wrong perhaps?

 

[Fluff]

Not all those dates are 10 characters long, try

=TEXT(LEFT(J2,FIND(" ",J2)),"mmmm")

 

[ANE0709]

your formula is correct, cell format is wrong perhaps?

any idea what it might need to change to? for column J i have tried general, several date formats, number, text, and custom mmmm with no luck. nothing that i know of changed when recreating the file. the data was exported from an online source in the same manor as before.

 

[Fluff]

It's nothing to do with the cell format. See post#3

 

[Akira181]

any idea what it might need to change to? for column J i have tried general, several date formats, number, text, and custom mmmm with no luck. nothing that i know of changed when recreating the file. the data was exported from an online source in the same manor as before.

I think fluff's solution will work better, I didn't spot that dates weren't all 10 characters long

 

[ANE0709]

Not all those dates are 10 characters long, try

=TEXT(LEFT(J2,FIND(" ",J2)),"mmmm")

Fluff - yours worked. curious though, with the find(" ",J2) does that mean find everything before the space? im still stumped why the formula i had was working before but not now. not sure whats different.

 

[Fluff]

with the find(" ",J2) does that mean find everything before the space?

That's right.

not sure whats different.

Maybe the data has changed & was originally 10 character date strings.

 

[Jon Peltier]

Not all those dates are 10 characters long, try

=TEXT(LEFT(J2,FIND(" ",J2)),"mmmm")

Slightly better:

=TEXT(LEFT(J2,FIND(" ",J2))-1,"mmmm")

 

[Rick Rothstein]

Slightly better:

Why? The TEXT function is not bothered by the trailing space. Given that, and on the off chance that occasionally there might not be a space between the date and dash, this might be slightly better...

=TEXT(LEFT(J2,FIND("-",J2))-1,"mmmm")