Difference between revisions of "Documentation/How Tos/Calc: IF function"

Revision as of 06:23, 2 March 2008

Returns one of two values, depending on a test condition.

IF(test; value1; value2) where:

test is or refers to a logical value or expression that returns a logical value (TRUE or FALSE).

value1 is the value that is returned by the function if test yields TRUE.

value2 is the value that is returned by the function if test yields FALSE.

If value2 is omitted it is assumed to be FALSE; if value1 is also omitted it is assumed to be TRUE.

IF(A1>5; 100; "too small")

returns the number 100 if A1 is greater than 5, and the text "too small" otherwise.

IF(1>2; "nonsense")

returns FALSE - because value2 has been omitted and 1 is not greater than 2.

IF(2>1)

returns TRUE - because both value1 and value2 have been omitted and 2 is more than 1.

IF(1=2; 1/0; SQRT(4))

returns 2, the square root of 4. IF() only calculates the value chosen - in this case 1/0 would give a #DIV/0! error, but is not calculated.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 === Example: ===
-<tt>'''IF(A1>5;100;"too small")'''</tt>
+<tt>'''IF(A1>5; 100; "too small")'''</tt>
 : returns the number 100 if A1 is greater than 5, and the text "too small" otherwise.
-<tt>'''IF(1>2;"nonsense")'''</tt>
+<tt>'''IF(1>2; "nonsense")'''</tt>
 : returns <tt>'''FALSE'''</tt> - because <tt>'''value2'''</tt> has been omitted and 1 is not greater than 2.
 <tt>'''IF(2>1)'''</tt>
 : returns <tt>'''TRUE'''</tt> - because both <tt>'''value1'''</tt> and <tt>'''value2'''</tt> have been omitted and 2 is more than 1.
+<tt>'''IF(1=2; 1/0; SQRT(4))'''</tt>
+: returns <tt>'''2'''</tt>, the square root of <tt>'''4'''</tt>. <tt>'''IF()'''</tt> only calculates the value chosen - in this case <tt>'''1/0'''</tt> would give a #DIV/0! error, but is not calculated.
 === See also: ===