Another alternative, if one had generalized concatenation and regular expression substitute functions, would be to define a name (REGEX) referring to the formula =”(“&MID(generalized_concatenation(“| “&B1:B51&” “),2,1024)&”)”, then use simpler formulas like =TRIM(regular_expression_substitute(A1,REGEX,” “)).

Another wrinkle: probably only want to remove state names as words rather than as substrings, e.g., probably don’t want to remove Georgia from ‘Georgian Armoire’.

http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2004/04/05/anatomy-of-an-array-formula/

When I was writing this post, I was going to point to that post for anyone who doesn’t know what an array formula is. When I got there, I learned that my new CodeColerer add-in was screwing up code tags with no arguments (or so I thought) and that post was a mess. By the time I fixed it all up (with JP’s help), I’d forgot about creating the link.

Make the ‘state’ list include D.C. as well as a blank row below Wyoming, so 52 rows in all. Then enter the following array formula in C1.

=SUBSTITUTE(A1,INDEX($B$1:$B$52,MATCH(1,COUNTIF(A1,”*”&$B$1:$B$52&”*”),0)),”")

Augmenting lists usually eliminates the need for space- and recalc time-wasting redundant expressions.

One question: What will the result be if the string contains two states like “Chairs Florida New York”?

The following User Defined Function will produce the same results

(Fingers crossed this comment box presents it correctly)

Function RemoveState(StatesRange As Range, TargetString As String) As String
    Dim rng As Range, str As String

    str = TargetString
    For Each rng In StatesRange
        If InStr(1, str, rng.Value) <> 0 Then
            str = Trim(Replace(str, rng.Value, “”))
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
    RemoveState = str
End Function