# Get the First Letter in a Word

**URL:** <https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337>\
**Category:** Ask for Help\
**Created:** [April 2, 2022, 6:37am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337 "2022-04-02T06:37:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dilon\_Perera](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/dilon_perera/32/85652_2.png) [@Dilon\_Perera](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Dilon_Perera)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 6:37am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337/1 "2022-04-02T06:37:11Z")

</div>

Hi Everyone,

I need to get the first letter in a word in my Airtable Table. I used Regex ( copied from Airtable Community Topic ) with a formula column but I’m getting the first two letters. But I need only the first letter.

Here’s the Regex that I copied from Airtable Forum:

```auto
REGEX_REPLACE(Name, "\\B\\w+\\W*", "")

```

Not sure how to do it. I’m new with Regex 🙂

Appreciate any help!

Thank you

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 6:54am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337/2 "2022-04-02T06:54:06Z")

</div>

Are you doing this in Airtable, or in Glide?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dilon\_Perera](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/dilon_perera/32/85652_2.png) [@Dilon\_Perera](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Dilon_Perera)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 6:57am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337/3 "2022-04-02T06:57:05Z")

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Thanks Darren for that fast reply!

In Airtable.

Thanks again for the reply!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 7:26am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337/4 "2022-04-02T07:26:53Z")

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oh, in that case I can’t help you - sorry

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dilon\_Perera](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/dilon_perera/32/85652_2.png) [@Dilon\_Perera](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Dilon_Perera)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 7:49am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337/5 "2022-04-02T07:49:51Z")

</div>

No problem Darren! Thanks for your reply!

I like to ask if I do this in Glide with the Extract Matching Column what would be the Regex Code?

I know there is a Plugin that already created for this user case but I like to use every features in Glide 🙃

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 8:24am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337/6 "2022-04-02T08:24:25Z")

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It depends on your definition of a letter. Most likely what you want is `^(\w)`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dilon\_Perera](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/dilon_perera/32/85652_2.png) [@Dilon\_Perera](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Dilon_Perera)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337/7 "2022-04-02T12:50:14Z")

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Yeah! After some research finally I found how to do this on Airtable! 🥳

This is the Regex Code :

```auto
REGEX_EXTRACT(Name, "\\b[a-zA-Z]")

```

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/7/6/76e8eae336fbf078299b79e4d28056491bd9ba45.png)

And the result :

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/5/3/53b9bb293993dd482f0630efc0935e245d8fd712.png)

And also thanks Darren because your code also works on Glide Too!

Code :

`^(\w)`

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/0/e/0e50e21af83e473d86d7af0d4a574e80c0ff40e3.png)

Result :

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/b/7/b7ca4f01888b689f66a8790045b1984ede3b30b0.png)

Thanks again Darren for your fast reply and help! Really Appreciated!

Glide Rock 🕶

Thank you

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/system/32/53398_2.png) [@system](https://community.glideapps.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/get-the-first-letter-in-a-word/40337/8 "2022-04-03T12:50:59Z")

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