Just curious on excel to search for a value and return the address/location of the cell. For example if i had B9= 5 and used vlookup to find 5 rather than returning the value i would like B9 returned. Also in this case how do i use that reference for another formula rather than the actual value within the cell. Using an example again i would like my next formula to click on the value 5 cell but rather than using 5 in the formula to use the B9 cell reference. Is there anyway to do this? Ive tried using indirect, vlookup, match index etc and no luck.
First question:
If you insist on VLOOKUP(), it gets cumbersome:
Create an auxiliary column C with this: =CELL("address";B1)
Now you can use =VLOOKUP(5;B:C;2;FALSE) and you should get $B$9
If you just want to know "In which cell is the value 5?" you can use #Jeeped's solution: =ADDRESS(MATCH(5,B:B,0),COLUMN(B:B),4) (note that the value 5 is hardcoded here). You should get B9
If you already know the column (i.e. B) your question is "In which row is the value 5?" Answer: =MATCH(5;B:B) which gives you 9. To prepend B, use ="B"&MATCH(5;B:B)
Second question:
I guess you're looking for INDIRECT(). If you write one of the above formulas in, say, D1 (or even type in "B9" by hand into D1), you can use =INDIRECT(D1). This transforms the string "B9" back into a cell reference, which means you get B9's value back, i.e. 5
Related
I've created a sequence of dates for a dynamic calender.
This works fine.
But now I want to implement a condition, using 'IF' statement, where the step of the sequence is changed based on the value in the cells in column D (starting in cell D8).
If the cell in column D contains "Y" then the step in the sequence for that specific cell must be 8 in stead of 7.
The idea is that the sequence generates a list of all Mondays of a specific year (defined in B6), but when the Monday is a holiday, the return value must be a Thuesday.
The problem is that the reference for the column (D8) doesn't change and stays on the first cell reference. It should change to D9 for the next sequence value, D10 for the 3rd sequence value, etc.
Dutch formula -
=REEKS(54;1;DATUM($B$6;1;1)-WEEKDAG(DATUM($B$6;1;1);2)+1;ALS(D8="Y";7;8))
English version formula -
=SEQUENCE(54,1,Date($B$6,1,1)-WEEKDAY(DATE($B$6,1,1),2)+1,IF(D8="Y",7,8))
Edit 04/01/2023
This is the first cell in the sequence
This is currently the second cell in the sequence, where reference to D8 needs to be D9
Now I understand your question (in my first answer, I thought you were copying your formula on another place).
There seems to be a difference between earlier Excel versions, where a formula could only have one single cell as a result. Now there are formulae (like =SEQUENCE(), whose answer spreads over different cells. All those cells contain one element of the formula result, which means that the formula itself does not change over the multi-cell result.
I'm not sure if I understand what you mean: I have copied your formula (the English one) in cell "E2" and this is what I get:
=SEQUENCE(54,1,DATE($B$6,1,1)-WEEKDAY(DATE($B$6,1,1),2)+1,IF(D8="Y",7,8))
In another cell ("G3"), this turns into (select cell "E2", press Ctrl+C, press cell "G3", press Ctrl+V):
=SEQUENCE(54,1,DATE($B$6,1,1)-WEEKDAY(DATE($B$6,1,1),2)+1,IF(F9="Y",7,8))
So, when I apply a formula to another cell (two columns further, one row further), the reference to "D8" turns into "F9" (two columns further, one row further).
The other reference ("$B$6) does not change. Obviously, because the dollarsigns prevent that value to be changed (this is exactly what absolute and relative cell references are about, as described here).
Unfortunately, I don't know what you mean when you say that your cell references don't change: the ones, who should, do, and the ones, who shouldn't, don't, which is correct behaviour.
Oh: when you enter your formula in an external tool (like Notepad or so), you paste your formula in a cell and you paste it again in another cell, Excel won't realise that the cell references need to be update, is this the problem you're having?
It's probably a simple problem, but I did not even know the keywords to google it ;/. Let's say I have this data :
Now I also have this litle formula:
If I know drag the C cell to the right, Excel will attempt the following caluclation:
=2+B1
What I want him to do is to attempt this calculation
=2+A2
Of course the easiest solution would be to store my initial data in one row instead of 1 column, but it is really inconvenient for me. Thanks for any help
You can use the indirect() method to reference a cell by it's "String identifier", i.e. "A3". When filling out to the right, use CONCATENATE() and COLUMN() to create your String identifiers {A1,A2,A3,A4,A5...} as required:
=2+INDIRECT(CONCATENATE("A";COLUMN()-2))
This will result in the following:
Side-Node: If you want this for some x/y-Grid-Generation, you can also be lazy,
and just insert =COLUMN() for every cell from "A1 - Z1" and ROW() for every cell from "A2 - A24".
(Or even avoid these at all and directly perform your actual calculation by using column() and row() as replacement for your x/y.
You may try using a combination of the INDIRECT and COLUMN functions:
=2+INDIRECT("A"&(COLUMN()-2))
You would paste the above formula into cell C1, and then drag across to the right however many columns/rows you wanted to cover.
This would result in the following:
This works because COLUMN()-2 returns 1 for the C column, 2 for the D column, and so on. Therefore, the formula will be calling INDIRECT on A1, A2, etc. for column C, D, and so on.
In general, if you want relative references to move down as cells are dragged to the right, you can use this:
Instead of:
= 2+A1
Do:
= 2+INDEX($A:$A,COLUMN()+<offset>)
Where <offset> is whatever offset you need. The offset will change depending on which column the starting formula is located in.
INDEX should be preferred over INDIRECT because INDIRECT is volatile (must recalculate after any change to the workbook) but INDEX is not (only recalculated when one of the inputs the formula, in this case $A:$A, changes).
I need to count all of the occurrences of a given value from a specific range of cells (containing strings or numbers), depending on a parameter stored in another cell.
I prepared a simple Excel table as an example (see attached image): let's say I want to count all of the occurrences of the VALUE "4" for the BASE "100". The result should be: 2 (C4 + C5).
Attached image
I tried to use COUNTIFS and FIND functions but with no results. The former only considers exact values (so the 4 in cell C5 will be ignored) while I seem to be unable to add another condition - the BASE column - to the latter.
Fact is I need to solve this with formulas only, no programming.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Use the SUMPRODUCT:
=SUMPRODUCT(($B$2:$B$10=100)*(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(4,$C$2:$C$10))))
There's a couple of other approaches, the simpler one is just to add another column which identifies matches for you, then have your count just sum the results of that column.
Solution image
So we put the values we want to find in some reference cells, the BASE match goes in G2, and the VALUE we're looking for goes in G3.
In column D we put a formula in D2:
"=IF(B2=$G$2,IF(ISERR(SEARCH($G$3,C2)),0,1),0)"
Returns 0 if the BASE matches and we can find at least one occurent of VALUE
B2=$G$2 - Does the BASE column match the BASE we're looking for
ISERR(SEARCH($G$3,C2)) - Does searching for the VALUE return an error (if it does, we know that VALUE isn't there)
Copy this formula to all the cells in column D, and then you can just use a simple SUM(D:D) to count the occurences where your conditions are met.
The neater but slightly more complex alternative is to use an array formula to do the match finding and counting all in one formula. This would look like this:
"{=SUM(IF(B:B=$G$2,IF(ISERR(SEARCH($G$3,C:C)),0,1)))}"
Pretty much the same as the formulas in column D, but now we use B:B and C:C in place of B2 / C2 etc. and stick the SUM around the whole thing. If you finish editing with Ctrl+Shift+Enter instead of just Enter, that'll make it an array formula.
Microsoft Array Formula Guidelines
NB: this WILL NOT count multiple occurences of 4 in a single VALUE cell.
p.s. Assuming you would want it to actually return 3 in this case (you missed the 4 in C7)
Is it possible in Google Spreadsheets to reach the value of the cell just above?
Meaning: In one cell A2 I want to display the value from the cell above, that is A1. Not because it is that coordinate, but because it is the cell above. I do this by simply setting the value equal to the above cell:
If I create a new row in between those two, I get this:
As we know, no change in the values, since the reference is not relative in this way. How can I make it relative to the cell, so I always pick the cell above nomatter what is changed? I want the result to be this:
The term relative is wrong in the case of course, but I hope you get my point. I both want the usual relative behavior (so I can move the cell itself and its reference will fit to the new coloumn and row) as well as the behavior that the reference does not point towards a specific fixed coordinate but rather a specific path from the cell itself.
You can address it using the following function:
=INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW()-1;COLUMN()))
COLUMN() returns a numeric reference to the current column
ROW() returns a numeric reference to the current row.
In the example here, subtracting 1 from the row gives you the previous row. This math can be applied to the ROW() and/or the COLUMN(), but in answering your question, this formula will reference the cell above.
Then we have ADDRESS() which accepts a numeric row and column reference and returns a cell reference as a string.
Finally INDIRECT() allows you to pass a cell reference in as a string, and it processes it as a formula.
Google Spreadsheets give you help hints as you type, so you should get a full explanation of each function as you type the formula above in.
For anyone who stumbles across this question, you can also specify the column by doing something like this:
=INDIRECT("A" & ROW()-1)
This comes in handy if you are returning values in Column B but checking against the previous row in Column A.
The shortest, and easier for VisiCal old timer is the old RC syntax with relative values…
=INDIRECT("R[-1]C[0]"; FALSE)
Very visual, simple code template to remember and modify, and very short.
Regards, Antoine
Here is my problem:
I have a cell (V4) containing the value 444. I want to use this value in the formula of another cell (M12) in the following way. I want the formula to be equivalent to =MIN(L12:L444) but instead of 444 I want to refer to cell V4 which contains the value 444. But when I type in =MIN(L12:L(V4)) it obviously doesnt work so how do I do it? Sorry if I didn't explain it very well. :S
Would this work for you:
=MIN(L12:INDIRECT("L"&$V$4))
From: Excel - INDIRECT and Using the value in a cell as a cell reference in a formula?
INDIRECT will work and is closest to the solution you described, but I prefer OFFSET, which uses proper references. (For example, if you insert a column in the sheet before L, INDIRECT will break while OFFSET will just update its reference as expected.
Two ways to go with OFFSET:
1 - Start at L$1 and go down $V$4-1 rows. (This will work with $V$4 as you've defined it now.)
=MIN(L12:OFFSET(L$1,$V$4-1,0))
2 - In $V$4, provide the height of the range you want.
=MIN(OFFSET(L12,0,0,$V$4,0))
It's hard to make suggestions without more context, but I'm sure you can tweak one of these patterns to meet your needs.
I am not sure if you are trying to include all of the values in 1 column and then on non-contiguous cell. If so, it should look like = Min(L12:L444,V4) . The L12:L444 looks at the value in every cell in the L column from 12 - 444.
So you can check individual cell (A3, D15, Q54) with commas, or a range of cells (A3:Z54) with a colon. Or a range and a specific cell like above =Min(L12:L444, V4).