Purpose
Return value
Syntax
=ISFORMULA(reference)
- reference - Reference to cell or cell range.
How to use
The ISFORMULA function returns TRUE if a cell contains a formula, and FALSE if not. When a cell contains a formula ISFORMULA will return TRUE regardless of the formula's output or error conditions. The ISFORMULA takes one argument, reference, which must be a cell reference.
Examples
If cell A1 contains the formula =2+2, the ISFORMULA function returns TRUE:
=ISFORMULA(A1) // returns TRUE
If cell A1 contains the text "apple", the ISFORMULA function returns FALSE:
=ISFORMULA(A1) // returns FALSE
Count formulas
To count cells in a range that contain formulas, you can use the SUMPRODUCT function like this:
=SUMPRODUCT(--ISFORMULA(range))
The double negative coerces the TRUE and FALSE results from ISFORMULA into 1s and 0s and SUMPRODUCT returns the sum.
Notes
- You can temporarily display all formulas in a worksheet with a keyboard shortcut.
- To extract and display a formula as text, use the FORMULATEXT function.