Reverse the Characters in a Cell

Excel Formulas › Text

Excel 365Legacy alt

Excel has no REVERSE function, but you can flip a string end-to-end — useful for some parsing tricks and IDs — with a short TEXTJOIN + MID + SEQUENCE formula in Excel 365.

Quick formula: to reverse the text in A2:
=TEXTJOIN("", 1, MID(A2, SEQUENCE(LEN(A2), 1, LEN(A2), -1), 1))
SEQUENCE counts character positions backwards; MID grabs each one; TEXTJOIN glues them back together reversed.

Functions used (tap for the full reference guide):

TEXTJOINMIDSEQUENCE

The example

Each string flipped end to end.

AB
1TextReversed
2ExcellecxE
31234554321

The formula

The reversed string:

=TEXTJOIN("", 1, MID(A2, SEQUENCE(LEN(A2), 1, LEN(A2), -1), 1)) // "Excel" → "lecxE"

How it works

It rebuilds the string from the back:

  1. SEQUENCE(LEN(A2), 1, LEN(A2), -1) makes a list of positions counting down from the last character to the first.
  2. MID(A2, …, 1) pulls the single character at each of those positions — so the last letter first, and so on.
  3. TEXTJOIN("", 1, …) concatenates them with no separator, producing the reversed string.
  4. It works on any length and any characters — letters, digits, symbols.

No 365? Reversing text has no clean legacy formula — the common routes are a short LAMBDA/VBA function or Power Query’s Text.Reverse. Most real tasks (extract last word, last name) are better solved with TEXTAFTER/RIGHT than by reversing.

Try it: interactive demo

Live demo

Type text; see it reversed.

Reversed:

Variations

Reverse the order of words

“a b c” → “c b a” with TEXTSPLIT + SORTBY:

=TEXTJOIN(" ",1, SORTBY(TEXTSPLIT(A2," "), SEQUENCE(...,−1)))

Reverse via LAMBDA name

Wrap the formula as a named REVERSE function (Name Manager) for reuse.

Check for a palindrome

Compare to the reverse:

=A2=TEXTJOIN("",1,MID(A2,SEQUENCE(LEN(A2),1,LEN(A2),-1),1))

Pitfalls & errors

SEQUENCE is Excel 365 only. The whole approach relies on it — there’s no tidy formula in 2021 or earlier.

You rarely actually need to reverse. For “get the last X,” RIGHT, TEXTAFTER, or the last-word formula are simpler and clearer.

Performance on huge strings. It builds a character-by-character array — fine for normal text, heavy for very long strings in bulk.

Practice workbook

📊
Download the free Reverse the Characters in a Cell practice workbook
The 365 reverse formula with results shown, plus the palindrome-check variant and notes, and 4 challenges with answers. No sign-up required.

Frequently asked questions

How do I reverse text in Excel?
In Excel 365 use =TEXTJOIN("", 1, MID(A2, SEQUENCE(LEN(A2),1,LEN(A2),-1), 1)). SEQUENCE counts positions backward, MID grabs each character, and TEXTJOIN reassembles them reversed.
Is there a REVERSE function in Excel?
No built-in REVERSE exists. Use the TEXTJOIN/MID/SEQUENCE formula in 365, a custom LAMBDA, or Power Query's Text.Reverse.
How do I reverse text without Excel 365?
There's no clean legacy formula. Use a LAMBDA (365), VBA, or Power Query. For most tasks, RIGHT or TEXTAFTER solves the real need without reversing.

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Related formulas: Extract the Nth word · Find the Nth occurrence · Extract first & last name

Function references: TEXTJOIN · MID · SEQUENCE