Return the first digit in a cell value

[hate0lif3]

Hi all,

Got this puzzling problem that need your help!

Imagine a cell has a value of "008281" at A1
I want to return the first digit of the 6 digits in A1 which will be "0" in A2.

I tried using the formulae in A2 with "=left(A1,1), it returns "8" instead. WEIRD!!

Anyone can help me on this -.- brain cells dying just trying to solve this

Thanks & Regards,
Ivan Chng

[Ron Coderre]

You're discovering the difference between "actual value" and "displayed value".
You probably have cell A1 formatted to display leading zeros. The actual value is: 8281.

If all values will display as 6-characters and you want to pull the left digit, try this:

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or this:

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Is that something you can work with?

[martindwilson]

if it is returning 8 then the value in a1 is 8261 formatted custom 000000