I can do it with an IF statement if I could figure out the
wild card for "any character" in a cell.

No wild card needed. Since you know that "" stands for no characters, then
simply test if there are no characters and use that as your deciding
logic...

=IF(A1<"","There's something in the cell","Cell is empty")

--
Rick (MVP - Excel)


"John" wrote in message
...
I think this is simple but I can't figure it out. I am trying to
make a logic string such that I will get "TBD", "In Progress" or
"Complete" text in a cell depending on the content of 2 other cells.
I have 3 columns: Training Start Date; Training Completed Date and
Training Status. If there are no dates entered in either date
column- I want the status cell to say "TBD" if a date has been entered
in the Start Date column the status column should say "In Process" and
"Completed" in the status column if there is a date in the Date
Completed column.

I am not trying to verify the dates or anything fancy - just change
the text in the status cell.

I can do it with an IF statement if I could figure out the wild card
for "any character" in a cell. The wild card for NO characters in a
cell is "" - I thought the any character wild card should be "*" but
that does not work. If I use =IF(A1="*", "In Progress", "TBD") and
there is nothing in A1 I get "TBD", if I put a date in A1 I still get
"TBD". If I use =IF(A1="","In process", "TBD" - nothing in A1 gives
me "In Process" and any character in A1 gives me "TBD"/

Suggestions?

Thanks for any help you can give me.


Frusterated John