Horrible looking IF function....

R

rmellison

I using the IF function to enter a certain value from another workbook into
a cell, but if that value happens to be 0, to enter "" (blank). My reference
is quite a long winded expression using VLOOKUP, and I find that I have to
enter the expression twice within the formula, once in the first argument for
IF followed by <>0, and again in the second argument for IF, to show what I
want in the cell if the first condition is true. Basically, something like
this, itself has an IF function and VLOOKUP function amongst others...

=IF([expression]<>0,[expression],"")

Its easy enough to copy and paste the expression, but I end up with a
function that's 3 lines long in the cell window and it looks pretty hairy!
Surely there must be a tidier way of doing this???
 
I

Ian

Put your VLOOKUP expression in another cell, then reference this with the If
function.

A1: VLOOKUP....
B1: =IF(A1<>0,A1,"")
 
R

rmellison

Hadn't considered that! Would certainly work, but would double the number of
cells I have, and I have enough as it is! Was wondering if there was a way of
doing it within a formula, in layman's terms, somthing like this:

=[expression], unless equal to 0, then ""

Not critical really, just frustrated by lengthy formulae....


Ian said:
Put your VLOOKUP expression in another cell, then reference this with the If
function.

A1: VLOOKUP....
B1: =IF(A1<>0,A1,"")


--
Ian
--
rmellison said:
I using the IF function to enter a certain value from another workbook
into
a cell, but if that value happens to be 0, to enter "" (blank). My
reference
is quite a long winded expression using VLOOKUP, and I find that I have to
enter the expression twice within the formula, once in the first argument
for
IF followed by <>0, and again in the second argument for IF, to show what
I
want in the cell if the first condition is true. Basically, something like
this, itself has an IF function and VLOOKUP function amongst others...

=IF([expression]<>0,[expression],"")

Its easy enough to copy and paste the expression, but I end up with a
function that's 3 lines long in the cell window and it looks pretty hairy!
Surely there must be a tidier way of doing this???
 
I

Ian

You could always hide the rows or columns with the VLOOKUP in. You'd still
have the cells, but they wouldn't clutter the appearance up.

Alternatively, post the VLOOKUP fromula to see if anyone here can trim it.

--
Ian
--
rmellison said:
Hadn't considered that! Would certainly work, but would double the number
of
cells I have, and I have enough as it is! Was wondering if there was a way
of
doing it within a formula, in layman's terms, somthing like this:

=[expression], unless equal to 0, then ""

Not critical really, just frustrated by lengthy formulae....


Ian said:
Put your VLOOKUP expression in another cell, then reference this with the
If
function.

A1: VLOOKUP....
B1: =IF(A1<>0,A1,"")


--
Ian
--
rmellison said:
I using the IF function to enter a certain value from another workbook
into
a cell, but if that value happens to be 0, to enter "" (blank). My
reference
is quite a long winded expression using VLOOKUP, and I find that I have
to
enter the expression twice within the formula, once in the first
argument
for
IF followed by <>0, and again in the second argument for IF, to show
what
I
want in the cell if the first condition is true. Basically, something
like
this, itself has an IF function and VLOOKUP function amongst others...

=IF([expression]<>0,[expression],"")

Its easy enough to copy and paste the expression, but I end up with a
function that's 3 lines long in the cell window and it looks pretty
hairy!
Surely there must be a tidier way of doing this???
 
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