You can use the following syntax to filter for rows that contain specific text in an Excel Advanced Filter:

*sometext*

The following examples show how to use this function in two different scenarios:

• Filter for rows that contain one specific text
• Filter for rows that contain one of multiple text

Example 1: Filter for Rows that Contain One Specific Text

Suppose we have the following dataset that shows the total sales of certain products in certain regions for a company:

Now suppose we’d like to filter for rows where the Region contains “st” in the name.

To do so, we can define a criteria range:

Next, we can click the Data tab and then click the Advanced Filter button:

We’ll choose A1:C17 as the list range and F1:F2 as the criteria range:

Once we click OK, the dataset will be filtered to only show rows where the Region contains the text “st“:

Example 2: Filter for Rows that Contain One of Multiple Text

Suppose we have the following dataset that shows the total sales of certain products in certain regions for a company:

Now suppose we’d like to filter for rows where the Region contains “st” or “Nor.”

To do so, we can define a criteria range:

Next, we can click the Data tab and then click the Advanced Filter button.

We’ll choose A1:C17 as the list range and F1:G3 as the criteria range:

Once we click OK, the dataset will be filtered to only show rows where the Region contains “st” or “Nor“:

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common operations in Excel:

How to Filter Multiple Columns in Excel
How to Sum Filtered Rows in Excel
How to Delete Filtered Rows in Excel