TRUNC Function in Excel – Cut Off the Decimals

When you work with numbers in Excel, you don’t always want to round them.

Sometimes, you just want to remove the decimals and keep only the whole number.

That’s exactly what the TRUNC function does.

It’s like telling Excel:

“Don’t round up or down — just stop at the decimal point.”

What is the TRUNC Function?

The TRUNC (short for truncate) function removes the decimal part of a number without rounding it.

It’s very handy when you want your numbers to stay precise but look clean.

Syntax:

=TRUNC(number, [num_digits])

• number: The value you want to truncate.
• num_digits (optional): How many decimal places you want to keep. If you leave it blank, Excel removes all decimals.

Examples:

Notice the difference between TRUNC and ROUND —

`=ROUND(25.89, 0)` gives 26,

but `=TRUNC(25.89)` gives 25.

TRUNC doesn’t round — it simply drops the decimal part.

When is TRUNC Helpful?

Here are some real-life situations where TRUNC is very useful:

1. To Avoid Rounding Errors

When you calculate things like tax, commission, or discounts, rounding can slightly change the total.

Using TRUNC helps you cut off decimals and keep exact lower values.

2. To Clean or Simplify Data:

If your sheet shows numbers like 45.999, 23.478, or 100.002, it can look messy.

With TRUNC, you can make your data look neat and professional without changing its actual value much.

Pro Tip:

You can also use TRUNC inside other formulas. For example:

=TRUNC(SUM(A1:A5), 2)

This gives you the total with only two decimal places — without rounding the result.

Difference Between TRUNC & INT Functions in Excel – Cut Off or Round Down Smartly!

At first, TRUNC and INT may seem the same since both remove decimals.

But they work a little differently.

TRUNC – Cuts Off Decimals

TRUNC simply cuts off the decimals. It doesn’t care if the number is positive or negative. It just removes the decimal part. No rounding, no adjusting.

INT Function – Round Down to the Nearest Integer

The INT function, short for integer, rounds numbers down to the nearest whole number.

But here’s the twist — it always rounds down, even for negative numbers.

Key Point:

• For positive numbers, `TRUNC` and `INT` give the same result.
• But for negative numbers, they differ!

Here, INT gives -26 because it always rounds down,

while TRUNC gives -25 because it just removes the decimal part.

Quick Comparison:

When to Use Each:

The TRUNC function is simple but powerful.

It’s perfect when you want clean numbers, accurate calculations, and no rounding surprises.

Use it when you want your data to look neat, your totals to stay consistent, and your reports to look professional.

Sometimes, the smallest Excel functions make the biggest difference — and TRUNC is definitely one of them.