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CLEAN

Supported, behaves as documented

Category: Text · Last tested 2026-08-06

Real, executed compatibility results for the CLEAN function across Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice Calc — verified by actually running it. Syntax and links to each vendor’s official documentation are below.

Support matrix

EngineDocumentedLive-testedVerdict
Excel Yes Not yet n/a
Google Sheets Yes Not yet n/a
LibreOffice Calc Yes Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-08-06) Supported, behaves as documented

LibreOffice version history

We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when CLEAN’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.

LibreOffice versionVerdictTested
24.2.0.3 Supported, behaves as documented 2026-07-19
24.8.7.2 Supported, behaves as documented 2026-07-19
25.2.0.3 Supported, behaves as documented 2026-07-24
25.8.7.3 Supported, behaves as documented 2026-08-06

Executed test cases

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-08-06)

FormulaDescriptionResultExpectedVerdict
=CLEAN("Hello"&CHAR(7)&"World") CHAR(7) (BEL, a non-printable 7-bit ASCII control character) is stripped out HelloWorld HelloWorld Matched
=CLEAN(CHAR(9)&"Hello") CLEAN removes CHAR(9) (tab) because it's one of the first 32 non-printable ASCII codes -- contrast with TRIM, which leaves tabs completely untouched since TRIM only targets the space character (32), not control characters Hello Hello
Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/clean-function-26f3d7c5-475f-4a9c-90e5-4b8ba987ba41 - CLEAN "removes nonprintable characters from ASCII codes 0 through 31"; its own documented example uses CHAR(9)&"Monthly report"&CHAR(10) -> "Monthly report"		 Matched
=CLEAN(" Hello ") Regular space characters (code 32) are left alone by CLEAN -- only non-printable control characters (codes 0-31) are removed Hello Hello Matched
=CLEAN("Hello") Text with no non-printable characters passes through unchanged Hello Hello Matched

Docs & syntax

Compared against other functions