Excel left formula shows an error (Not trying to type a formula)

I have a simple formula that I have found on the internet which does exactly what I want

=LEFT(K3,MIN(FIND({0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9},A3&"0123456789"))-1)

the thing I found it on multiple sites and they said it works but when I used it excel gives me the following error

Not trying to type a formula?

When the first character is an equal (=) or minus (-) sign, Excel thinks it's a formula:


• you type:   =1+1, cell shows:   2


To get around this, type an apostrophe ( ' ) first:


• you type:   '=1+1, cell shows:   =1+

may I know why and how to fix that?

my Excel version is 16.30

Solution 1:

Your formula works fine for me,

If A3 is 2 characters in length, it returns the first 2 characters of K3,

Is this the intended behavior ?

If this is what the formula should be doing, try replacing , with ; like below:

=LEFT(K3;MIN(FIND({0;1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9};A3&"0123456789"))-1)