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EXPLODE

Category: EGTools-only function

Splits one column by delimiter(s), expanding into rows or columns; other columns are copied.

Syntax

=EXPLODE(array, col_number, [delimiter], [by_col], [pad_with], [ignore_empty])

Arguments

Argument Required Description
array Required source table
col_number Required column to split, 1-based
delimiter Optional delimiter(s), e.g. " " or {",",";"} (default space)
by_col Optional TRUE spreads parts across columns (default FALSE: down rows)
pad_with Optional fill value for short rows when by_col (default "")
ignore_empty Optional TRUE drops empty parts

Returns

Returns the exploded table as a 2-D spilled array. Returns #VALUE! when the array argument is not an array, and #NUM! when col_number is outside 1..number-of-columns.

Examples

Formula Result Description
=EXPLODE({"A","x,y";"B","z"},2,",") {"A","x";"A","y";"B","z"} Split column 2 into rows
=EXPLODE({"A","x,y";"B","z"},2,",",TRUE) {"A","x","y";"B","z",""} Spread across columns, padded

Notes

  • Multiple delimiters are allowed; longer delimiters are applied first (default: space).
  • With by_col TRUE, short rows are padded with pad_with (default "").
  • ignore_empty TRUE drops empty parts (one empty string is kept if all parts are empty).
  • Supported: Excel 2010+. Always registered as EXPLODE on every Excel version.