How to use the Excel CELL function

Summary

The Excel CELL function returns information about a cell in a worksheet. The type of information to be returned is specified as info_type. CELL can get things like address and filename, as well as detailed info about the formatting used in the cell. See below for a full list of information available.

Purpose

Get information about a cell

Return value

A text value

Syntax

=CELL (info_type, [reference])

Arguments

info_type - The type of information to return about the reference.
reference - [optional] The reference from which to extract information.

Version

Excel 2003

Usage notes

Use CELL to extract a wide range of information about a reference. The type of information to be returned is specified as info_type, which should always be enclosed in double quotes (""). For example, to get the column number for C10:

=CELL("col", C10) // returns 3

To get the address of A1 as text:

=CELL("address",A1) // returns "$A$1"

See below for a full list of info_types and a key to the codes that CELL returns when the info_type is format. Note that when reference refers to more than one cell, CELL will return information about the first cell in reference.

The following info_types can be used with the CELL function:

Info_type	Description
address	returns the address of the first cell in reference (as text).
col	returns the column number of the first cell in reference.
color	returns the value 1 if the first cell in reference is formatted using color for negative values; or zero if not.
contents	returns the value of the upper-left cell in reference. Formulas are not returned. Instead, the result of the formula is returned.
filename	returns the file name and full path as text. If the worksheet that contains reference has not yet been saved, an empty string is returned.
format	returns a code that corresponds to the number format of the cell. See below for a list of number format codes. If the first cell in reference is formatted with color for values < 0, then "-" is appended to the code. If the cell is formatted with parentheses, returns "() - at the end of the code value.
parentheses	returns 1 if the first cell in reference is formatted with parentheses and 0 if not.
prefix	returns a text value that corresponds to the label prefix - of the cell: a single quotation mark (') if the cell text os left-aligned, a double quotation mark (") if the cell text is right-aligned, a caret (^) if the cell text is centered text, a backslash () if the cell text is fill-aligned, and an empty string if the label prefix is anything else.
protect	returns 1 if the first cell in reference is locked or 0 if not.
row	returns the row number of the first cell in reference.
type	returns a text value that corresponds to the type of data in the first cell in reference: "b" for blank when the cell is empty, "l" for label if the cell contains a text constant, and "v" for value if the cell contains anything else.
width	returns the column width of the cell, rounded to the nearest integer. A unit of column width is equal to the width of one character in the default font size.

The table below shows the text codes returned by CELL when "format" is used for info_type.

Format code returned	Format code meaning
G	General
F0	0
,0	#,##0
F2	0
,2	#,##0.00
C0	$#,##0_);($#,##0)
C0-	$#,##0_);[Red]($#,##0)
C2	$#,##0.00_);($#,##0.00)
C2-	$#,##0.00_);[Red]($#,##0.00)
P0	0%
P2	0.00%
S2	0.00E+00
G	# ?/? or # ??/??
D1	d-mmm-yy or dd-mmm-yy
D2	d-mmm or dd-mmm
D3	mmm-yy
D4	m/d/yy or m/d/yy h:mm or mm/dd/yy
D5	mm/dd
D6	h:mm:ss AM/PM
D7	h:mm AM/PM
D8	h:mm:ss

Notes

When requesting the info_types "format" or "parentheses", a set of empty parentheses "()" is appended to the format returned if the number format uses parentheses for all values or for positive values. For example, if A1 uses the custom number format (0), then: