You can use the following formula to convert feet and inches into a decimal in Excel:

=TEXTBEFORE(A2,"'")+TEXTBEFORE(TEXTAFTER(A2,"'"),"""")/12

This will convert the feet and inches in cell A2 into a decimal.

For example, if cell A2 contains 6’5″ then this formula will convert this into 6.4167.

The following example shows how to use this formula in practice.

Example: Convert Feet and Inches to Decimal in Excel

Suppose we have the following dataset in Excel that shows the height of various athletes:

To convert each height from feet and inches into a decimal, we can type the following formula into cell B2:

=TEXTBEFORE(A2,"'")+TEXTBEFORE(TEXTAFTER(A2,"'"),"""")/12

We can then drag and fill this formula down to each remaining cell in column B:

Column B now displays the feet and inches in column A as a decimal.

For example:

• 6 feet and 2 inches is equal to 6.1667 feet.
• 6 feet and 5 inches is equal to 6.4167 feet.
• 5 feet and 10 inches is equal to 5.8333 feet.

And so on.

How This Formula Works

Recall the formula that we used to convert feet and inches into a decimal:

=TEXTBEFORE(A2,"'")+TEXTBEFORE(TEXTAFTER(A2,"'"),"""")/12

Here is how this formula works:

First, we use TEXTBEFORE(A2, “‘”) to extract the text before the first single quote in cell A2.

This extracts the value 6.

Next, we use TEXTBEFORE(TEXTAFTER(A2,”‘”),””””)/12 to extract the text between the single quote and the double quote and divide it by 12.

This results in 2 / 12 = 0.1667.

Lastly, we use a plus sign ( + ) to add these two values.

This results in 6 + 0.1667 = 6.1667.

Additional Resources

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

Excel: How to Convert Time Duration to Minutes
Excel: How to Convert Percentage to Ratio
Excel: How to Convert UNIX Timestamp to Date