Here I am stucked with one excel issue where i want to concatenate from column F till column I where the logic is when the benchmark column A3 (for example) is blank it need to concatenate column F till column I till there is a value at column A4.and this logic need to automatically concatenate the mentioned column till there is a value under the benchmark column. currently i need to keep change the concatenate range in order to concatenate it fully with the logic. Appreciate if anyone can help me out.
Below image shows how i am doing manually which very time consuming
You can use the MATCH function (with a wildcard) to find the next non-blank row; and use that in an INDEX function to detect the range to concatenate.
Assuming your data starts in A3 and the lowest possible row is row 1000 (change the 1000's in the formula below if it might be much different:
J2: =IF(A2="","",CONCAT(INDEX(F2:$I$1000,1,0):INDEX(F2:$I$1000,IFERROR(MATCH("*",A3:$A$1000,0),1000-ROW()),0)))
Note: It is possible to also develop solutions using INDIRECT and/or OFFSET. Unfortunately, these functions are volatile, which means they recalculate anytime anything changes on your worksheet. If there are a number of formulas using these functions, worksheet performance will be impaired. INDEX and MATCH are non-volatile (except in ancient versions of Excel - pre-2003 or so)
The OFFSET-function would come on handy here. One solution is to do it like
This works in my worksheet.
Cell Q6 just defines the number of rows downwards that the MATCH-function is checking for the next "HEADER1" value. If "HEADER1" is found, the MATCH-function returns how many rows down-1. If no "HEADER1"-value is found within that range, that value is then the number of rows used.
If the first column also has "HEADER2" and so on, you can add the MID-function to both references inside MATCH to limit which part of the string are to be searched for.
I tried to adjust the references properly to fit your sheet, but I may have missed something:
=IF(ISBLANK($B2),"",CONCAT(OFFSET($B2,0,0,IFNA(MATCH(MID($B2,1,6),MID(OFFSET($B2,1,0,$B$1),1,6),0),$B$1),4)))
I am trying to write a formula that checks the status and name to be ongoing and joe blogs (in this example), and once finding a match, will identify the oldest date of a ticket raised.
My formula currently includes:
=MIN(IF('Sheet2'!AA:AA="ONGOING",IF('Sheet2'!Q:Q="Joe Bloggs",'Sheet2'!B18:B49)))
I also tried:
=IF((AND(sheet2!$AA:$AA="ongoing", 'Sheet2'!$Q:$Q="Joe Bloggs")), MIN('Sheet2'!B18:B49),"No")
In Column B contains dates. Q contains names, AA contains the status.
At the moment when this runs I get the result '00/01/1990'.
I have done some checks to find the error, and appears to be around the targets name, as when the second formula is tried, the output is "no". The name is definitely in the Q column, and I have completed other formulas including countifs which have worked perfectly fine.
I have done a lot of searching to find nested ifs and min statements to have no joy , would be grateful of any advice / tips. It may be a simple error to some.
Try entering this as an array formula:
=MIN(IF(sheet2!AA:AA="ongoing",IF(sheet2!q:q="Joe Bloggs",sheet2!B:B)))
FYI I found the solution here.
You will have to apply a date format to the result.
Your first formula works well on my data (as below). If I close the formula with ENTER only, I get the result '37128' and if I close the formula with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER I get the expected result, '25/08/2001'.
Edit: As #FocusWiz said in the comments, the only major difference (other than different column names) between my formula and yours is the the last range in your formula (B18:B49) is a different sized range to the other two, which are referring to full columns.
*This could be solved either by using the same row range for all three column references (AA18:AA49, Q18:Q49, B18:B49) or referencing the full column range for all three ranges (AA:AA,Q:Q,B:B).
This is your formula I'm talking about:
=MIN(IF('Sheet2'!AA:AA="ONGOING",IF('Sheet2'!Q:Q="Joe Bloggs",'Sheet2'!B18:B49)))
And this is the formula in my workbook F7:
=MIN(IF(B:B="ONGOING",IF(A:A="Joe Bloggs",C:C)))
As you can see in the formula editor, squiggly brackets '{}' show around the formula when it has been closed as an array formula.
If that doesn't work for you, please post some sample data with datatypes so we can help figure out what is causing the lookup value to miss the data.
While I like the technique offered by Patrick (I have frequently forgotten an "else" portion of a formula and gotten "false" as a value in a cell but never thought of a use for that...thank you!), I think this question highlights an issue we all can have with array formulas. As girlvsdata indicates, your original formula:
=MIN(IF(Sheet2!AA:AA="ONGOING",IF(Sheet2!Q:Q="Joe Bloggs",Sheet2!B:B)))
(modified above to be more generic for column B) will also work when entered as an array formula.
What likely happened is that somehow the formula got edited and was not re-entered as an array formula.
While I do not dislike array formulas, I do try to avoid them because I have fat fingers and will frequently mess them up by accidentally hitting the wrong key as I am modifying other cells.
Here is an alternative without using an array formula:
=INDEX(LARGE((Sheet2!Q:Q&Sheet2!AA:AA="Joe bloggs"&"ongoing")*(Sheet2!B:B),COUNTIFS(Sheet2!Q:Q,"Joe Bloggs",Sheet2!AA:AA,"ongoing")),1)
What it does is basically create a candidate date value for every row that has "joe bloggs" and "ongoing" which is equal to the date in column B for all such rows. All other rows get a zero candidate date value. The LARGE function takes the smallest nonzero date by counting the n valid candidates with the COUNTIFS function and taking the nth largest such candidate.
I have been working on this issue for over two hours and I am beginning to question my sanity. I have used vlookup many times in the past, but now it is just not working as expected. I am trying to replicate a LEFT-JOIN (from SQL) in Excel using vlookup.
Here is the formula I am using on cell G2:
Here is the table of all the values I want to lookup values for.
Here is the table I am using as a reference:
I am only searching one column to simplify the example. Cell G2 contains the formula which is applied to the cells under it as well. As you can see from the first image, not only is it not matching but there is some pretty weird behavior going on.
I have removed duplicates for both tables.
I have unformatted the data to plain text values
I have tried this formula on three different computers
Regardless, I keep kept getting the same result! I am starting to lose sanity.
Does anyone have any idea?
Thank you
If you want exact matches, you should be using FALSE as the last parameter
The lookup table must be sorted in ascending order. Cell A369 appears to have a value lower than the row before it, A368. There are several instances of "lower" values occurring after a higher value.
Before you go insane, consider sorting the range $A$368 thru $A$679, and see if that makes a difference.
Otherwise, time to ditch VLOOKUP, and use instead INDEX and MATCH.
Sometimes you can get the #N/A error if your lookup_value isn't "clean". If that's the case, try this formula:
=VLOOKUP(TRIM(CLEAN(A2)),$A$368:$A$697,1,FALSE)
Additionally, your table_array may have "unclean" data, so you'll need to scrub that first before you're able to find a match. To do that, use this array formula, committing it with Ctrl + Shift + Enter:
=VLOOKUP(A2,TRIM(CLEAN($A$368:$A$697)),1,FALSE)
Have you tried doing a MATCH? does it need to be VLOOKUP?
if you are happy using match try:
=IF(MATCH(A2,$A$368:$A$697,0),A2,"NO MATCH")
Does anyone have any brilliant ideas to simplify this difficult formula? Don't panic when you see it, I will try to explain.
=IFERROR(INDEX(rangeOfDesiredValues,(1/SUMPRODUCT((rangeOfSerials=$D20)(rangeOfApps=cfgAppID)(rangeOfAccessIDs=cfgAccessID)*ROW(rangeOfDesiredValues))^-1)),"")
Currently I am using SUMPRODUCT to do the equivalent of a VLOOKUP with multiple columns as criteria. Usually that only works with number results, but since I need to find text, I'm using SUMPRODUCT in combination with ROW and INDEX.
Unfortunately when no cell is found, my SUMPRODUCT returns 0. This causes the formula to return the incorrect cell rather than blank. For this reason I am running the result through this calculation:
(1 / result)^-1
This way results of 0 become an error, and other results remain unchanged. I feed this into IFERROR, so that errors become blanks.
Does anyone know how to make this neater? I am not able to create new columns in any of my spreadsheets.
It's always best to avoid using multi-condition summing functions like SUMPRODUCT when you want to find a single value (it would obviously give you an incorrect result or error if there's more than one row which matches all three conditions, I assume you expect one match at most here?). ROW function can also be problematic if you insert any rows in the worksheet.....
There are several approaches that can work. For a single formula, using MATCH is the most common - MATCH will only give the correct position or an error so no problems with zero values. That would look like this:
=IFERROR(INDEX(rangeOfDesiredValues,MATCH(1,(rangeOfSerials=$D20)*(rangeOfApps=cfgAppID)*(rangeOfAccessIDs=cfgAccessID),0)),"")
That's an "array formula" that needs to be entered with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER......or you can make it into a regular formula with an extra INDEX function like this
=IFERROR(INDEX(rangeOfDesiredValues,MATCH(1,INDEX((rangeOfSerials=$D20)*(rangeOfApps=cfgAppID)*(rangeOfAccessIDs=cfgAccessID),0),0)),"")
A third alternative is to use LOOKUP which doesn't need "array entry"
=IFERROR(LOOKUP(2,1/(rangeOfSerials=$D20)/(rangeOfApps=cfgAppID)/(rangeOfAccessIDs=cfgAccessID),rangeOfDesiredValues),"")
That differs slightly from the previous versions in the case of multiple matches - it will give you the last match rather than the first in that scenario (but I assume you have only one match at most, as stated above).
Finally, if you don't mind using helper columns you could simplify the formulas considerably. Just use a "helper" column to concatenate the three criteria columns separated by dashes and then you can use a simple VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH, e.g.
=IFERROR(INDEX(rangeOfDesiredValues,MATCH($D20&"-"&cfgAppID&"-"&cfgAccessID,Helper_Column,0)),"")
Does anyone know the formula to find the value of the last non-empty cell in a column, in Microsoft Excel?
Using following simple formula is much faster
=LOOKUP(2,1/(A:A<>""),A:A)
For Excel 2003:
=LOOKUP(2,1/(A1:A65535<>""),A1:A65535)
It gives you following advantages:
it's not array formula
it's not volatile formula
Explanation:
(A:A<>"") returns array {TRUE,TRUE,..,FALSE,..}
1/(A:A<>"") modifies this array to {1,1,..,#DIV/0!,..}.
Since LOOKUP expects sorted array in ascending order, and taking into account that if the LOOKUP function can not find an exact match, it chooses the largest value in the lookup_range (in our case {1,1,..,#DIV/0!,..}) that is less than or equal to the value (in our case 2), formula finds last 1 in array and returns corresponding value from result_range (third parameter - A:A).
Also little note - above formula doesn't take into account cells with errors (you can see it only if last non empty cell has error). If you want to take them into account, use:
=LOOKUP(2,1/(NOT(ISBLANK(A:A))),A:A)
image below shows the difference:
This works with both text and numbers and doesn't care if there are blank cells, i.e., it will return the last non-blank cell.
It needs to be array-entered, meaning that you press Ctrl-Shift-Enter after you type or paste it in. The below is for column A:
=INDEX(A:A,MAX((A:A<>"")*(ROW(A:A))))
Here is another option: =OFFSET($A$1;COUNTA(A:A)-1;0)
I know this question is old, but I'm not satisfied with the answers provided.
LOOKUP, VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP has performance issues and should really never be used.
Array functions has a lot of overhead and can also have performance issues, so it should only be used as a last resort.
COUNT and COUNTA run into problems if the data is not contiguously non-blank, i.e. you have blank spaces and then data again in the range in question
INDIRECT is volatile so it should only be used as a last resort
OFFSET is volatile so it should only be used as a last resort
any references to the last row or column possible (the 65536th row in Excel 2003, for instance) is not robust and results in extra overhead
This is what I use
when the data type is mixed: =max(MATCH(1E+306,[RANGE],1),MATCH("*",[RANGE],-1))
when it's known that the data contains only numbers: =MATCH(1E+306,[RANGE],1)
when it's known that the data contains only text: =MATCH("*",[RANGE],-1)
MATCH has the lowest overhead and is non-volatile, so if you're working with lots of data this is the best to use.
Inspired by the great lead given by Doug Glancy's answer, I came up with a way to do the same thing without the need of an array-formula. Do not ask me why, but I am keen to avoid the use of array formulae if at all possible (not for any particular reason, it's just my style).
Here it is:
=SUMPRODUCT(MAX(($A:$A<>"")*(ROW(A:A))))
For finding the last non-empty row using Column A as the reference column
=SUMPRODUCT(MAX(($1:$1<>"")*(COLUMN(1:1))))
For finding the last non-empty column using row 1 as the reference row
This can be further utilized in conjunction with the index function to efficiently define dynamic named ranges, but this is something for another post as this is not related to the immediate question addressed herein.
I've tested the above methods with Excel 2010, both "natively" and in "Compatibility Mode" (for older versions of Excel) and they work. Again, with these you do not need to do any of the Ctrl+Shift+Enter. By leveraging the way sumproduct works in Excel we can get our arms around the need to carry array-operations but we do it without an array-formula. I hope someone out there may appreciate the beauty, simplicity and elegance of these proposed sumproduct solutions as much as I do. I do not attest to the memory-efficiency of the above solutions though. Just that they are simple, look beautiful, help the intended purpose and are flexible enough to extend their use to other purposes :)
Hope this helps!
All the best!
This works in Excel 2003 (& later with minor edit, see below). Press Ctrl+Shift+Enter (not just Enter) to enter this as an array formula.
=IF(ISBLANK(A65536),INDEX(A1:A65535,MAX((A1:A65535<>"")*(ROW(A1:A65535)))),A65536)
Be aware that Excel 2003 is unable to apply an array formula to an entire column. Doing so yields #NUM!; unpredictable results may occur! (EDIT: Conflicting information from Microsoft: The same may or may not be true about Excel 2007; problem may have been fixed in 2010.)
That's why I apply the array formula to range A1:A65535 and give special treatment to the last cell, which is A65536 in Excel 2003. Can't just say A:A or even A1:A65536 as the latter automatically reverts to A:A.
If you're absolutely sure A65536 is blank, then you can skip the IF part:
=INDEX(A1:A65535,MAX((A1:A65535<>"")*(ROW(A1:A65535))))
Note that if you're using Excel 2007 or 2010, the last row number is 1048576 not 65536, so adjust the above as appropriate.
If there are no blank cells in the middle of your data, then I would just use the simpler formula, =INDEX(A:A,COUNTA(A:A)).
An alternative solution without array formulas, possibly more robust than that of a previous answer with a (hint to a) solution without array formulas, is
=INDEX(A:A,INDEX(MAX(($A:$A<>"")*(ROW(A:A))),0))
See this answer as an example.
Kudos to Brad and barry houdini, who helped solving this question.
Possible reasons for preferring a non-array formula are given in:
An official Microsoft page (look for "Disadvantages of using array formulas").
Array formulas can seem magical, but they also have some disadvantages:
You may occasionally forget to press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER. Remember to press this key combination whenever you enter or edit an array formula.
Other users may not understand your formulas. Array formulas are relatively undocumented, so if other people need to modify your workbooks, you should either avoid array formulas or make sure those users understand how to change them.
Depending on the processing speed and memory of your computer, large array formulas can slow down calculations.
Array Formula Heresy.
if you search in Column (A) use :
=INDIRECT("A" & SUMPRODUCT(MAX((A:A<>"")*(ROW(A:A)))))
if your range is A1:A10 you can use:
=INDIRECT("A" & SUMPRODUCT(MAX(($A$1:$A10<>"")*(ROW($A$1:$A10)))))
in this formula :
SUMPRODUCT(MAX(($A$1:$A10<>"")*(ROW($A$1:$A10))))
returns last non blank row number ,and indirect() returns cell value.
=INDEX(A:A, COUNTA(A:A), 1) taken from here
=MATCH("*";A1:A10;-1) for textual data
=MATCH(0;A1:A10;-1) for numerical data
Ive tried all the non-volatile versions but Not one version given above has worked.. excel 2003/2007update. Surely this can be done in excel 2003. Not as an array nor standard formula.
I either get just a blank, 0 or #value error.
So I resort to the volatile methods .. This worked..
=LOOKUP(2,1/(T4:T369<>""),T4:T369)
#Julian Kroné .. Using ";" instead of "," does NOT work! I think you are using Libre Office not MS excel?
LOOKUP is so annoyingly volitile I use it as a last resort only
For Microsoft office 2013
"Last but one" of a non empty row:
=OFFSET(Sheet5!$C$1,COUNTA(Sheet5!$C:$C)-2,0)
"Last" non empty row:
=OFFSET(Sheet5!$C$1,COUNTA(Sheet5!$C:$C)-1,0)
Place this code in a VBA module. Save. Under functions, User defined look for This function.
Function LastNonBlankCell(Range As Excel.Range) As Variant
Application.Volatile
LastNonBlankCell = Range.End(xlDown).Value
End Function
for textual data:
EQUIV("";A1:A10;-1)
for numerical data:
EQUIV(0;A1:A10;-1)
This give you the relative index of the last non empty cell in the range selected (here A1:A10).
If you want to get the value, access it via INDIRECT after building -textually- the absolute cell reference, eg:
INDIRECT("A" & (nb_line_where_your_data_start + EQUIV(...) - 1))
I had the same problem too. This formula also works equally well:-
=INDIRECT(CONCATENATE("$G$",(14+(COUNTA($G$14:$G$65535)-1))))
14 being the row number of the first row in the rows you want to count.
Chronic Clawtooth
I used HLOOKUP
A1 has a date;
A2:A8 has forecasts captured at different times, I want the latest
=Hlookup(a1,a1:a8,count(a2:a8)+1)
This uses a standard hlookup formula with the lookup array defined by the number of entries.
If you know that there are not going to be empty cells in between, the fastest way is this.
=INDIRECT("O"&(COUNT(O:O,"<>""")))
It just counts the non-empty cells and refers to the appropriate cell.
It can be used for a specific range as well.
=INDIRECT("O"&(COUNT(O4:O34,"<>""")+3))
This returns the last non empty cell in the range O4:O34.
This formula worked with me for office 2010:
=LOOKUP(2;1/(A1:A100<>"");A1:A100)
A1: the first cell
A100: refer to the last cell in comparing
I think the response from W5ALIVE is closest to what I use to find the last row of data in a column. Assuming I am looking for the last row with data in Column A, though, I would use the following for the more generic lookup:
=MAX(IFERROR(MATCH("*",A:A,-1),0),IFERROR(MATCH(9.99999999999999E+307,A:A,1),0))
The first MATCH will find the last text cell and the second MATCH finds the last numeric cell. The IFERROR function returns zero if the first MATCH finds all numeric cells or if the second match finds all text cells.
Basically this is a slight variation of W5ALIVE's mixed text and number solution.
In testing the timing, this was significantly quicker than the equivalent LOOKUP variations.
To return the actual value of that last cell, I prefer to use indirect cell referencing like this:
=INDIRECT("A"&MAX(IFERROR(MATCH("*",A:A,-1),0),IFERROR(MATCH(9.99999999999999E+307,A:A,1),0)))
The method offered by sancho.s is perhaps a cleaner option, but I would modify the portion that finds the row number to this:
=INDEX(MAX((A:A<>"")*(ROW(A:A))),1)
the only difference being that the ",1" returns the first value while the ",0" returns the entire array of values (all but one of which are not needed). I still tend to prefer addressing the cell to the index function there, in other words, returning the cell value with:
=INDIRECT("A"&INDEX(MAX((A:A<>"")*(ROW(A:A))),1))
Great thread!
If you are not afraid to use arrays, then the following is a very simple formula to solve the problem:
=SUM(IF(A:A<>"",1,0))
You must press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER because this is an array formula.
INDEX returns a value by index position in an array and ROWS then is used to specify the last position of the array.
=LET(array,A1:A10,INDEX(array,ROWS(array)))
Also works for multiple columns when setting the parameter [column_num] of INDEX to 0:
=LET(array,A1:C10,INDEX(array,ROWS(array),0))
A simple one which works for me:
=F7-INDEX(A:A,COUNT(A:A))
Okay, so I had the same issue as the asker, and tried both top answers. But only getting formula errors. Turned out that I needed to exchange the "," to ";" for the formulas to work. I am using XL 2007.
Example:
=LOOKUP(2;1/(A:A<>"");A:A)
or
=INDEX(A:A;MAX((A:A<>"")*(ROW(A:A))))
For version tracking (adding the letter v to the beginning of the number), I found this one to work well in Xcelsius (SAP Dashboards)
="v"&MAX(A2:A500)