# How to represent a blank cell in an excel formula ?



## plejon (Jul 26, 2001)

How can i represent a blank cell in an excel formula ?

I'm trying to use a fomula such as

IF(<condition> ; <value1> ; <blank> )

If my condition is FALSE, I want the result to be a blank cell.

I tried inserting the number zero and the text string "", but they don't do the trick. In both cases , ISBLANK() returns FALSE on the cell.

I would like to know what I should use on the <blank> spot in my formula to obtain a cell, that will return TRUE in the ISBLANK() function.


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## plejon (Jul 26, 2001)

How can i represent a blank cell in an excel formula ?

I'm trying to use a fomula such as

IF( CONDITION ; VALUE1 ; BLANK )

If my condition is FALSE, I want the result to be a blank cell. 

I tried inserting the number zero and the text string "", but they don't do the trick. In both cases , ISBLANK() returns FALSE on the cell. 

I would like to know what I should use on the BLANK spot in my formula to obtain a cell, that will return TRUE in the ISBLANK() function.


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## Gram123 (Mar 15, 2001)

Plejon,

You could just use a second IF function instead of the ISBLANK function.

So you'd have your original formula:

IF (CONDITION; VALUE1; "")

And then, where you want a blank to return True and any other value to return False, you'd use:

IF (C1="", TRUE, FALSE)


I find it strange that if you use COUNTBLANK on a cell range that includes a "" value, that cell will be included in the count, but if you use ISBLANK, it would not...

HTH

Gram


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## plejon (Jul 26, 2001)

Let me explain what I'm trying to achieve :

From a supplier, I received a pricelist with my purchase price. The file looks something like this :

A1, B1: blank cells, seperation row
A2: product heading B2rice header(e/g/ EURO, POUNDS, ...)
A3->A10: product description B3->B10rice

This is repeated x times for a different sets of products.

What I'm trying to do is make a new pricelist for my customers. This list should contain the exact same info, except for the price which should be uplifted by lets say 50%. I obviously don't want my customers to see my purchase price.

What I'm trying to do is create an extra column C, which contains B*1.5, then copy the values from column C back to column B.
The problem lies in the headers. The seperation lines generate "0" number, the price headers generate "#VALUE!" errors. Using the formula described earlier, I try to generate the C-column only for the cells in B containing a number. Then I can copy/paste special them to B using values only, and excluding blanks. However, since my "" is not considered a "blank" cell, it erases the headers in my B column.


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