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Expression Builder - Get last 6 characters of a string

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Posted on by CU27011134-0

Im using Power Automate Desktop - Signed into a personal account (Not a business account)

I'm copying text to a variable and I'd like to get the last 6 characters of that text and copy to a seperate Variable
Example
Variable1 = Description of goods (Code:13453)

I want to get the "(Code:13453)" and put into a different variable.

Have been using the "Get Subtext" action to try get this done. At the "Character Position", have tried creating an expression but everything I'm trying is giving error messages.

Have been using copilot and chatgpt to get this done but they are no help.

Troubleshooting so far.
I've managed to figure out that %Variable1.Length% gives me the correct number of characters in that variable.

(Copilot's solutions) - All giving error messages = Arguement "CharacterPosition" must be an integer value
%Variable1.Length& -12

%Variable1.Substring(Variable1.Length - 12)%
%Variable1.Subtext(Variable1.Length - 12)%

Would anyone know the correct expression needed to get this done.
Cannot find a list of valid expressions I can use in Power Automate on the web, so have been trying to use different languages I've used in the past, but none are working.

even the Right() function isn't valid.

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Power Automate Desktop

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eetuRobo 4,565 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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The syntax would be: %Variable1.Length -12%

Or you could also use Parse text -action with RegEx enabled. So this retrieves text from the first parenthesis. So from the text: Description of goods (Code:13453)
It returns the (Code:13453)

Either way works but regex one can be more reliable if the text is not always in the exact same format so if there is some extra characters at the end for example then the subtext might not give correct value.

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David_MA 14,956 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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I don't think you meant to ask about getting the last six characters, but if you did, this expression should do the trick:

if(lessOrEquals(length(string(variables('Variable1'))), 5), 'Error', substring(string(variables('Variable1')), sub(length(string(variables('Variable1'))), 6), 6))

This is what it will return:

If you don't want the closing parentheses, use this expression:

if(lessOrEquals(length(string(variables('Variable1'))), 5), 'Error', substring(string(variables('Variable1')), sub(length(string(variables('Variable1'))), 6), 5))

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