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Spreadsheet data

How to remove first N characters in Excel

2026-06-28
Task

A supplier file adds a three-letter warehouse prefix to each SKU: CAL00123, NYC00456, TEX07890. The import needs the clean SKU without the first 3 characters: 00123, 00456, 07890.

Short answer

Create sku_clean from sku_raw and add one rule: condition Regular expression with ^.{3}, action Remove substring.

How to do it in Eofferix

  1. Upload the CSV or XLSX file with the sku_raw column where the first 3 characters are always a service code.

  2. Create the result column sku_clean from the source column sku_raw.

  3. Open the settings for sku_clean with the gear icon in its header.

    Opening sku_clean column settings in the Eofferix table editor
    The preview shows CAL00123 becoming 00123.

  4. In Transformations, choose Regular expression, enter ^.{3}, and set the action to Remove substring.

    Eofferix rule for removing the first three characters from SKU values
    The pattern ^.{3} finds the first 3 characters at the start of the string, and the action removes that match.

  5. Save the settings and check several rows: NYC00456 should become 00456, and TEX07890 should become 07890.

Before / after

Before

source data
sku_rawproduct
CAL00123Hudson desk lamp
NYC00456Maple wall shelf
TEX07890Trail travel mug

After

result
sku_cleanproduct
00123Hudson desk lamp
00456Maple wall shelf
07890Trail travel mug

What to keep in mind

  • Use this method when the extra prefix has the same length in every row.
  • If the prefix is separated by a character, such as CAL-00123, use the remove-text-before-character case instead.
  • Change the number for another length: ^.{2} removes the first 2 characters, and ^.{4} removes the first 4.

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