How to define blank cell?

[Eric]

If condition does not meet, then nothing in cell, which I use "" to define
blank cell, however, some plug-in for Excel cannot recognize "" as a blank
cell.
Does anyone have any suggestions on another approach to define blank within
formula?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Eric

 

[Arvi Laanemets]

I don't think there is some universal way short of 'Clear contents' - and I
hope you don't consider it as an option

Really, when you have a formula in cell, it never is empty - whatever the
formula returns, there is the formula itself too!



Arvi Laanemets.

 

[JLatham]

Within a formula, generally you can use one of 2 tests:
=""
or
ISBLANK(A1)
ISBLANK() is not true unless there really is nothing in the cell, not even a
formula returning "".
Another option, that will return 0 for either an empty cell or one with ""
in it would be:
LEN(A1)=0

 

[ozgrid.com]

RE: some plug-in for Excel cannot recognize "" as a blank
cell.

That's because the cell is NOT blank and contains a formula.

I prefer to have formulas return Zero over empty text as Zeros are numeric
and can be easily hidden.

Perhaps you question should detail what you want to do?

 

[Dave Peterson]

As long as the cell is going to have a formula, the cell will never be empty.

If I have to make sure that the blank looking cells are really empty, I'll use
this technique.

I'll use a formula like:
=if(a1>10,"too big",na())
And drag down the range

Then I'll clean up the #n/a's. But this will lose the formulas from those
cells.

I'll select the range
Edit|goto (or F5 or ctrl-g)
Special|formulas|Check errors (uncheck the other choices)
hit ok
hit the delete key on the keyboard

Remember that this deletes the formulas in those cells!