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.
ISFORMULA function examples
Sum formulas only
Count cells that contain formulas
Show formula text with formula
Related functions
FORMULATEXT Function
The Excel FORMULATEXT function returns a formula as a text string from a given reference. You can use FORMULATEXT to extract the formula as text from a cell. If you use FORMULATEXT on a cell that doesn't contain a formula, it returns #N/A.
ISBLANK Function
The Excel ISBLANK function returns TRUE when a cell is empty, and FALSE when a cell is not empty. For example, if A1 contains "apple", ISBLANK(A1) returns FALSE.
ISERR Function
The Excel ISERR function returns TRUE for any error type except the #N/A error. You can use the ISERR function together with the IF function to test for an error and display a custom message, or perform a different calculation if found.
ISERROR Function
The Excel ISERROR function returns TRUE for any error type excel generates, including #N/A, #VALUE!, #REF!, #DIV/0!, #NUM!, #NAME?, or #NULL! You can use ISERROR together with the IF function to test for errors and display a custom message, or run a different calculation when an error occurs....
ISEVEN Function
The Excel ISEVEN function returns TRUE when a value is an even number, and FALSE when a value is an odd number. ISEVEN will return the #VALUE error if a value is not numeric.
ISLOGICAL Function
The Excel ISLOGICAL function returns TRUE when a cell contains the logical values TRUE or FALSE, and returns FALSE for cells that contain any other value, including empty cells.
ISNA Function
The Excel ISNA function returns TRUE when a cell contains the #N/A error and FALSE for any other value, or any other error type. You can use the ISNA function with the IF function test for #N/A and display a friendly message if the error occurs.
ISNONTEXT Function
The Excel ISNONTEXT function returns TRUE when a cell contains any value except text. This includes numbers, dates, times, errors, and formulas that do not return text. ISNONTEXT also returns TRUE when a cell is empty.
ISNUMBER Function
The Excel ISNUMBER function returns TRUE when a cell contains a number, and FALSE if not. You can use ISNUMBER to check that a cell contains a numeric value, or that the result of another function is a number.
ISODD Function
The Excel ISODD function returns TRUE when a value is an odd number, and FALSE when a value is an even number. ISODD will return the #VALUE error if a value is not numeric.
ISREF Function
The Excel ISREF returns TRUE when a cell contains a reference and FALSE if not. You can use the ISREF function to check for a reference in a formula.
ISTEXT Function
The Excel ISTEXT function returns TRUE when a cell contains a text value, and FALSE if the cell contains any other value. You can use the ISTEXT function to check if a cell contains a text value, or a numeric value entered as text.
