What does " mean in excel

[Jane]

When working in excel and doing my labs, I am often told to use " " in my
formulas but I don't know what " " stand for and the ! is also used, can
someone explain to me what " " and ! mean?

 

[trip_to_tokyo]

EXCEL 2007

" "

1. This can mean that text is being inserted in the formula.

2. In this example:-

=IF(AND(C2="East",D2<20),D2*100%,"Not Applicable")

The 2 words in inverted commas are text.

"East" means if the formula finds that text (East) in cell C2.

"Not Applicable" means that Not Applicable will be placed into a cell if the
2 conditions in the formula are found to be false.

If my comments have helped please hit Yes.

 

[trip_to_tokyo]

EXCEL 2007

!

Here is an example of use of the above.

1. In Sheet1 cell A1 I have the following text:-

sheet1 cell a1

2. In Sheet2 cell A1 I have the followingformula:-

=Sheet1!A1

This returns:-

sheet1 cell a1

- in Sheet2 cell A1.

The above is one example of how ! is used.

Please hit Yes if my comments have helped.

Thanks.

 

[Chip Pearson]

It is the multiplication operator. E.g., =A1*B1 multiplies cell A1 by
cell B1.

Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional,
Excel, 1998 - 2010
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com

 

[Gord Dibben]

Do not use " " in your formulas. That creates a space.

Use "" to return nothing as a condition..

e.g. =IF(A1="","",A1)

Means if A1 is empty, show nothing.....if something in A1 show that.

=IF(A1=" ", " ",A1) is entirely different

Means if A1 contains a space, return a space.

Not good.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[JLatham]

I think Gord Dibben has given a good explanation of what " " means, and why
you should most often use "" instead <g> (which I agree with).

The ! is a separator character between a sheet name and a cell range. Such
as:
=Sheet1!A5
says to echo the contents of cell A5 on Sheet1.
and
=SUM('Another Sheet'!A6:A10)
says to perform the SUM function on cells A6:A10 on a sheet named Another
Sheet. In this case, because there is a space in the other sheet's name, you
have to enclose the sheet name in the single quote marks as shown.

Hope this helps.