View Single Post
  #9   Report Post  
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
Biff
 
Posts: n/a
Default why a reference to an empty cell is not considered empty

The short answer is no.

If a cell has a formula that returns a blank, that cell is not empty.

Biff

"Nicoscot" wrote in message
...
So the real question would be do you know any way of having a cell refer
to
another cell and actually be considered as a really empty cell if the
refered
cell is actually empty?
i.e. A1 is actually empty and my cell A2 which is refering to A1 is
considered just like A1.
Thanks a lot

"Biff" wrote:

Stop pulling your hair out!

Example: The cell A1 is empty


If A1 contains a formula that returns a formula blank: "", that cell IS
NOT
EMPTY.

If A1 truly was EMPTY then: =A1 would return 0.

=if(isblank(A2);"empty";"full")


The ISBLANK function does not recognize formula blanks as blank cells so
that's why you get "full".

=IF(A2="","empty","full") will return "empty".

=if(A20;"number higher than 0";"other")


If A2 contains the formula =A1 and A1 contains a formula blank, then A2 =
""
which is a TEXT value. A TEXT value will ALWAYS evaluate to 0 so that's
why
you get "number higher than 0".

Biff

"Nicoscot" wrote in message
...
I do not understand why a cell that contains a formula which result is
empty
is not considered as an empty cell.
Example: The cell A1 is empty; in cell A2 I type =A1; in cell A3 I type
=if(isblank(A2);"empty";"full") and the result in A3 is... "full". I do
not
get it.
Other example:The cell A1 is empty; in cell A2 I type =A1; in cell A3 I
type
=if(A20;"number higher than 0";"other") and the result in A3 is...
"number
higher than 0"!!!!.... Even in the case that the value in A2 was 0 how
could
it be strictly superior to 0!!! That makes no sense at all.
Please tell me how to create a reference to an empty cell whose result
is
indeed an empty cell. I am going crazy.