Find range which contains first cell only of last line? - excel

Question

I need to calculate a range which contains just a single cell. This cell is from the last line and first column. If the sheet is empty the range is A1:A1.
I know there are plenty of ways to calculate the last line, but I'm looking for an elegant way to get the first cell of the last line. Maybe some examples explain better.
Example #1
A B C D
1
2 X
3 X
4 X
Result #1
Range = A4:A4
Example #2
A B C D
1
Result #2
Range = A1:A1
How to do this?

Answer 1

If I have understood correctly, you want find the last row across some range (or bunch of columns).
One way to achieve this might be to loop over each column within the range, find what row the last cell (in that particular column), and check if it exceeds whatever the greatest last row has been thus far in the loop.
In the code below, if you change "Sheet1" to whatever your sheet is called, and change the range from "A4:Z5" to something like "A:Z" or "A1:D4" (or whatever it is in your case), it should then display the address of the cell you're after.
Option Explicit
Private Sub ShowLastCell()
' Change this to what your sheet is called.
With ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
' Change this to the range you need to check.
With .Range("A4:Z5")
Dim firstColumnToCheck As Long
firstColumnToCheck = .Columns(1).Column
Dim lastColumnToCheck As Long
lastColumnToCheck = .Columns(.Columns.Count).Column
End With
Dim maxLastRow As Long
Dim columnIndex As Long
For columnIndex = firstColumnToCheck To lastColumnToCheck
maxLastRow = Application.Max(maxLastRow, .Cells(.Rows.Count, columnIndex).End(xlUp).Row)
Next columnIndex
MsgBox ("I think the cell you want is " & .Cells(maxLastRow, "A").Address & ":" & .Cells(maxLastRow, "A").Address)
End With
End Sub

Answer 2

GetFirstCellInLastLine will return the first cell in the last line of the referenced worksheet as a Range object. Then you can do what you want with it. For example, printing to Immediate Window for the active sheet:
Debug.Print GetFirstCellInLastLine(ActiveSheet).Address
It is setup to return Noting if the worksheet is blank, but you can modify this according to your needs:
'''
''' Returns the first used cell in the last line of the worksheet.
''' Returns "Nothing" if the worksheet is blank.
'''
Public Function GetFirstCellInLastLine(ws As Excel.Worksheet) As Excel.Range
Dim rng As Excel.Range
Set rng = ws.UsedRange.Cells(ws.UsedRange.Rows.Count, 1)
If ((ws.UsedRange.Columns.Count > 1) And ws.Range(rng, rng.End(xlToRight)).Columns.Count <= ws.UsedRange.Columns.Count) Then
Set rng = ws.Range(rng, rng.End(xlToRight))
If VBA.IsEmpty(rng.Cells(1, 1)) Then
Set rng = rng.Cells(1, rng.Columns.Count)
Else
Set rng = rng.Cells(1, 1)
End If
ElseIf (ws.UsedRange.Columns.Count = 1) And VBA.IsEmpty(rng.Cells(1, 1)) Then
Set rng = Nothing
End If
Set GetFirstCellInLastLine = rng
End Function

Answer 3

Last Used Row & Specified Column Intersection feat. UsedRange
One of the elegant ways would be to use the UsedRange property.
Advanced Version
'*******************************************************************************
' Purpose: Using the UsedRange Property, creates a reference to the cell *
' range at the intersection of the last used row and a specified *
' column in a worksheet and prints its address and the address *
' of the UsedRange to the Immediate Window. *
'*******************************************************************************
Sub LastUR_Column_UsedRange()
Const cVntCol As Variant = "A" ' Column
Dim objRngT As Range ' Target Range
With ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
If .Cells(.UsedRange.Rows.Count + .UsedRange.Row - 1, cVntCol).Row = 1 _
And .Cells(1, Columns.Count).End(xlToLeft).Column = 1 _
And IsEmpty(.Cells(1, 1)) Then
Debug.Print "objRngT = Nothing (Empty Worksheet)"
Else
Set objRngT = .Cells(.UsedRange.Rows.Count + .UsedRange.Row - 1, cVntCol)
Debug.Print "objRngT = " & objRngT.Address & " calculated from the " _
& "used range (" & .UsedRange.Address & ")."
Set objRngT = Nothing
End If
End With
End Sub
'*******************************************************************************
Lesson Version
'*******************************************************************************
' Purpose: Using the UsedRange Property, creates a reference to the cell *
' range at the intersection of the last used row and a specified *
' column in a worksheet and prints subresults and its address *
' to the Immediate Window. *
'*******************************************************************************
Sub LastUR_Column_UsedRange_Lesson()
' When you declare the column as variant you can use
' column letter or number e.g. "A" or 1, "D" or 4 ...
Const cVntCol As Variant = "A" ' Column
Dim objRngT As Range ' Target Range
Dim lngLast As Long ' Last Row
Dim lngRows As Long ' Number of Rows
Dim lngFirst As Long ' First Row
With ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
' Finding first row and number of rows is easy.
lngFirst = .UsedRange.Row
Debug.Print "lngFirst = " & lngFirst
lngRows = .UsedRange.Rows.Count
Debug.Print "lngRows = " & lngRows
' Note1: Only when there is data in the first row, the number of rows
' is equal to the last row.
' Therefore we have to calculate the last row.
lngLast = lngRows + lngFirst - 1
Debug.Print "lngLast = " & lngLast
' Now imagine you have the first data in row 2, and you have 3 rows
' which would mean the last data is in row 4 (rows 2, 3, 4). So when you add
' 2 + 3 = 5, you have to subtract 1 row, because you counted row 2 twice.
' Note2: If there is data in the first row then lngFirst = 1.
' So the formula will calculate:
' lnglast = lngRows + 1 - 1
' lngLast = lngRows + 0
' which proves the statement in Note1.
' The previous three lines could have been written in one line:
lngLast = .UsedRange.Rows.Count + .UsedRange.Row - 1
Debug.Print "lngLast = " & lngLast & " (One Row Version)"
' Now we have all the ingredients for the Target Range.
Set objRngT = .Cells(lngLast, cVntCol)
Debug.Print "objRngT = " & objRngT.Address _
& " (Before Check if Empty)"
' And again all this could have been written in one line:
Set objRngT = .Cells(.UsedRange.Rows.Count + .UsedRange.Row - 1, cVntCol)
Debug.Print "objRngT = " & objRngT.Address & " (One Row Version)" _
& " (Before Check if Empty)"
' then you wouldn't need variables lngLast, lngFirst and lngRows. On the
' other hand you wouldn't have learned how this big formula was created.
' Now the problem is that if the worksheet is empty, UsedRange will show
' the cell in the first row as the used range. So we have to address this
' issue by checking if all of the following three conditions are true.
' - Check if the resulting cell range is in the first row (1).
' - Check if from the end of the first row to the beginning the result
' is the first cell (1) (all other cells are empty).
' - Check if the cell ("A1") is empty.
If objRngT.Row = 1 And _
.Cells(1, Columns.Count).End(xlToLeft).Column = 1 And _
IsEmpty(.Cells(1, 1)) Then
Debug.Print "objRngT = Nothing (Empty Worksheet)"
Else
Debug.Print "objRngT = " & objRngT.Address
End If
' Although this is a working code, we can conclude that we should have done
' this checking at the beginning which will be done in the advanced version.
End With
Set objRngT = Nothing
End Sub
'*******************************************************************************

Answer 4

Last Used Row & Specified Column Intersection feat.
The Find Method
I would call this the safest and most elegant way: using the Find method.
'*******************************************************************************
' Purpose: Using the Find method, creates a reference to the cell range at *
' the intersection of the last used row and a specified column *
' in a worksheet and prints its address to the Immediate window. *
'*******************************************************************************
Sub LastUR_Column_Find()
Const cVntCol As Variant = "A" ' Column Letter or Number ("A" or 1)
Dim objRngT As Range ' Target Range
With ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Sheet1")
If Not .Cells.Find("*", .Cells(.Rows.Count, .Columns.Count), -4123, , 1) _
Is Nothing Then
Set objRngT = .Cells(.Cells.Find("*", , , , , 2).Row, cVntCol)
Debug.Print "objRngT = " & objRngT.Address
Set objRngT = Nothing
Else
Debug.Print "objRngT = Nothing (Empty Worksheet)"
End If
End With
End Sub
'*******************************************************************************
' Remarks: If you carefully study the "Find method as it applies to *
' the Range object." from "Visual Basic Help", you will realize *
' why exactly those four arguments and their parameters in *
' the If statement must be included and why three of them can *
' be omitted, but a new one has to be added in the Else clause. *
'*******************************************************************************