Summary of "Google Sheets SPLIT Function Tutorial - Text to Columns Using a Delimiter, INDEX, COUNTA, IMPORTRSS"

Overview

This is a hands-on Google Sheets tutorial focused on the SPLIT function and practical ways to combine it with other functions (INDEX, COUNTA) to extract parts of text — similar to Excel’s Text to Columns. The instructor uses a live example: importing article titles from the New York Times US > Education RSS feed into Google Sheets with IMPORTFEED, then parsing those titles.

Key takeaways

SPLIT returns an array of substrings, so it can be used as the reference argument inside other functions.
You can split by single or multiple delimiter characters.
The third SPLIT argument (split_by_each) controls whether each character in the delimiter string is treated separately (TRUE) or the entire delimiter string is treated as one sequence (FALSE).
SPLIT is case-sensitive when delimiters are letters.
Wrapping SPLIT with INDEX lets you pick a specific word (first, second, etc.).
Use COUNTA(SPLIT(…)) to count how many pieces a SPLIT produced; use that count inside INDEX to get the last word. To get the second-to-last, subtract 1 from the COUNTA result.
Because these functions return arrays, you can drag the formula down and apply it to many rows easily.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Import RSS titles into Google Sheets

Find the RSS feed URL (example: New York Times > Sections > US > Education).
Use IMPORTFEED. Example syntax from the video: =IMPORTFEED("RSS_feed_URL", "items title", TRUE)
- First argument: the RSS URL as a string.
- Second argument: the path/element to extract from the feed (e.g., "items title").
- Third argument: headers boolean (TRUE to include a header/column label).
- Optional fourth argument: number of items to import (omitted in the demo).

2. Split a title into words (basic use)

Use SPLIT to break a cell by a delimiter. Example: =SPLIT(A2, " ")
- First argument: text or reference (A2).
- Second argument: delimiter (here a single space " ").
- Result: returns an array of words into adjacent cells.

3. Split by multiple characters

Put multiple characters inside the delimiter quotes. Example: =SPLIT(A2, " o") This treats space and lowercase "o" as delimiters (when split_by_each = TRUE).
Third argument (split_by_each):
- TRUE (default): treat each character inside the delimiter string individually (split by any of them).
- FALSE: treat the entire delimiter string as one sequence to match.
Note: SPLIT is case-sensitive — uppercase letters are not matched by lowercase delimiters.

4. Use INDEX to return a specific element from the SPLIT array

INDEX recap: =INDEX(reference, row_index, [column_index]) When reference is an array of words from SPLIT, row_index selects which word (1 = first).
Examples:
- First word: =INDEX(SPLIT(A2, " "), 1)
- Second word: =INDEX(SPLIT(A2, " "), 2)

5. Get the last (or second-to-last) word using COUNTA and INDEX

COUNTA counts non-empty items. Example: =COUNTA(SPLIT(A2, " "))
Use COUNTA inside INDEX to pick the last element: =INDEX(SPLIT(A2, " "), COUNTA(SPLIT(A2, " ")))
For the second-to-last word: =INDEX(SPLIT(A2, " "), COUNTA(SPLIT(A2, " ")) - 1)

Practical tips and behavior

Because SPLIT returns an array, you can paste it inside other functions as the reference argument.
Drag or double-click the fill handle to apply formulas to multiple rows/titles.
Difference between COUNT and COUNTA:
- COUNT counts numeric values only.
- COUNTA counts non-empty cells (works for text parts produced by SPLIT).
IMPORTXML is mentioned as a more powerful alternative for parsing XML/HTML if needed, but IMPORTFEED is simpler for RSS.

Functions and concepts demonstrated

IMPORTFEED (used to import RSS feed items)
SPLIT (main focus)
INDEX (to pick a specific element from the array returned by SPLIT)
COUNTA (to count array elements and find the last index)
COUNT (mentioned briefly to contrast with COUNTA)
IMPORTXML (mentioned as an alternative)
Array-return behavior of functions in Google Sheets
Text-to-Columns equivalence (SPLIT = programmatic Text to Columns)

Speakers and sources

Presenter: unnamed tutorial instructor (the person narrating and demonstrating).
Source data: The New York Times — specifically the US > Education RSS feed (used as the example input).
Tools referenced: Google Sheets functions (IMPORTFEED, SPLIT, INDEX, COUNTA, COUNT, IMPORTXML).