excel formula question...

[Chuck Wintle]

what purpose does the exclamation mark serve in the if statement...?

=IF(Edit_Equipment_List!B230="","",Edit_Equipment_List!B230)

[David Weaver]

It's a divider between the tab and cell in the tab, so that excel knows which part of the formula tells it what tab/sheet to go to and which part tells it what cell to go to once it's arrived at the designated tab.

[Paul Cohen]

This IF statement seem like it is not needed. If cell B230 on sheet Edit_Equipment_List is blank (equal to ""), then the cell is set to blank otherwise it is set to the value of cell B230 on sheet Edit_Equipment_List. But if the IF was not there the value of the cell would still be blank if the cell was just set to =Edit_Equipment_List!B230.

[Ben Hatcher]

Paul, I tend to agree. Normally, you'd use an if in a case like this to default something to 0, not "".

[daniel lane]

In general, if you're using the IF function as a quick-and-dirty selection tool in an area you want to sum, it makes sense to do the [IF(not(isnumber(x)),"",x)] kind of thing, but there are other reasons to use it. In this case, Chuck could be trying to say, "if it's blank, then leave this cell blank", otherwise copy the value over." If you don't do it like that, you get a zero in the cell, and he may not want that.

edit: Paul, what you've said is technically incorrect - if <cell> is blank, the "=<cell>" function in another cell will return a zero, not a blank.


daniel

[Paul Cohen]

edit: Paul, what you've said is technically incorrect - if <cell> is blank, the "=<cell>" function in another cell will return a zero, not a blank.
daniel
Thanks I see your point.