How to Get a Domain Name from a URL in Excel

In this tutorial, we will learn how to get domain name from URL in Excel. In order to do this, we will use LEFT and FIND functions. Combination of these two functions allows us to get a number of characters to the specific certain character.

Figure 1. Final result

Syntax of LEFT and FIND function

The generic formula to get domain name from URL is:

=LEFT(text ,FIND(find_text,within_text,start_num))

In order to get domain name from URL, we will have to use LEFT and FIND functions. Therefore, we will first explain both functions separately.

FIND function returns a position of a specific text in a cell.

The parameters of this function are:

find_text – a text which we want to find in a cell
within_text – a text cell in which we want to find a position of a character
start_num – a position (character number) from which we want to look up for a text. This is a non-mandatory parameter.

LEFT function returns a certain number of characters from the left side in a cell.

The parameters of the function are:

text – a cell from which we want to take substring
num_chars – a number of characters which we want to take from the left side. This is a non-mandatory parameter.

Finally, The result of the FIND function will be a num_chars parameter for the LEFT function.

Setting up Your Data

Figure 2. The structure of the data

We will now explain the example. Let’s start with examining the structure of the data that we will use.

In column B (“URL”) we have URL, while in column C (“Domain”) we want to get domain from URL. A domain is a link from the beginning until the third “/”.

Figure 3. Get domain name from URL

Retrieve Domain Name from URL

The formula looks like:

=LEFT(B3,FIND("/",B3,9))

We will first evaluate the FIND part of the function, because we want to find the position of “/” in B3 cell beginning from the 9th character in B3. This is because the first two occurrences of “/” in B3 are included in the domain, while the third one is the end of the domain. Therefore, the result of FIND("/",B3,9) is 22.

This result will be the num_chars parameter of the LEFT function. So, we will have =LEFT(B3,22) function and take 22 characters from the left from B3, which represents the domain.

Above all, to get domain name from URL, we need to follow these steps:

Select cell C3 and click on it
Insert the formula =LEFT(B3,FIND("/",B3,9))
Press enter
Drag the formula down to the other cells in the column by clicking and dragging the little “+” icon at the bottom-right of the cell

As a result, we will get “https://www.got-it.ai/” in cell C3 for URL “https://www.got-it.ai/solutions/excel-chat/” from cell B3.

Most of the time, the problem you will need to solve will be more complex than a simple application of a formula or function. If you want to save hours of research and frustration, try our live Excelchat service! Our Excel Experts are available 24/7 to answer any Excel question you may have. We guarantee a connection within 30 seconds and a customized solution within 20 minutes.

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Another blog reader asked this question today on Excelchat:

I need to analyse data and not always return the 1st instance of a lookup. Eg. I have an account number, ID number and a domain name There are instances where the same account and ID numbers on a row have a different domain name. My use so far always defaults to give me the 1st instance of that combination, but I need to return all domain names, either in one cell or separate cells Is this possible ?

An Excelchat Expert solved this problem in 19 mins!

I'm merging two databases and need to remove or flag rows from Database 2 if the column (email domain) is present in Database 1.

An Excelchat Expert solved this problem in 14 mins!

Hi, (A) I would like to have the data automatically get pasted from external URL (mentioned in point # B) when the Date appears in column D against which the data is blank ( Open, High, Low, Close, Volume & Turnover) i.e. Cell numbers from E2715 to J2715 (highlighted in Yellow) (B) Reference URL:- https://www.nseindia.com/products/content/equities/indices/historical_index_data.htm (C) From the URL mentioned above:- Select a time period i.e. (From date) & (To Date) as per Date mentioned in the column D against which the data is blank (yellow fields) and then paste it there automatically.

An Excelchat Expert solved this problem in 29 mins!