Formatting celle with LEFT

[deuxo]

I am using the following function in a cell(A2)
=LEFT(A1,5), where I am trying to return the first 5 characters from A1, however I am unable to formatt cell A2. Anyone know how to format a cell that uses the LEFT function?

 

[Fryer Tuck]

What type of format; the text itself, or the cell? (E.g. $1.23 or align right)

 

[deuxo]

If I undertand your question correctly, I want to format the text, in my case I want to convert to a date.

 

[Ricky Morris]

To format the result as date you should convert it to a value by using the value command. Your formula would be:

=Value(Left(a1,5))

Ricky

 

[Al Chara]

Post some sample data, for clarification.

 

[deuxo]

Thanks for responses, The VALUE function Ricky recommended did the trick.