The names need to be in quotes because that is how Excel denotes a text
string.
If rather than "How long can the string be?" you intended to ask how many IF
statements can be nested together in this way, the answer is only 7 for
Excel 2003. If you've got more than that the recommendation is usually to
use the VLOOKUP function instead of nested IFs. Excel help will give you
examples as to how to use VLOOKUP, and there are plenty of recommendations
in the archive of this newsgroup.
--
David Biddulph

"Johnnie" wrote in message
...
Shane,
Thanks, it works great. Two questions:
1. Do the names require the quotes because I am pulling them from a list
and
2. How long can the string be? I have 35 names to incorporate into the
formula.

Johnnie

"Shane Devenshire" wrote:

Hi,

very close, instead use

=IF(B3="Brian",Sheet2!E2,if(B3="Cindy",Sheet2!E3,i f(B3="David",Sheet2!E4,"")))


--
If this helps, please click the Yes button

Cheers,
Shane Devenshire


"Johnnie" wrote:

I am trying to get information based on a name. I tried the following
formula, but can not get it to work. Please help. Thanks.
Johnnie

In cell B7 I have the following:

=IF(B3=Brian,Sheet2!E2,if(B3=Cindy,Sheet2!E3,if(B3 =David,Sheet2!E4,"")

Note: Cell B3 is a list.