Dave Bruns

The MATCH function is used to determine the position of a value in a range or array. For example, in the screenshot above, the formula in cell E6 is configured to get the position of the value in cell D6. The MATCH function returns...Read more

The LOOKUP function is one of the original lookup functions in Excel. You can use LOOKUP to look up a value in one range or array and return the corresponding value from another range or array. Like the newer XLOOKUP function, LOOKUP can look up values in either rows or columns. However,...Read more

The INDIRECT function converts a text string like "Sheet1!A1" into a valid reference like =Sheet1!A1. That sounds simple enough, but of all Excel's many functions, INDIRECT might be the most confusing to users. Why...Read more

The INDEX function returns the value at a given location in a range or array. INDEX is a powerful and versatile function. You can use INDEX to retrieve individual values or entire rows and columns. INDEX is frequently used together with the MATCH function...Read more

The HYPERLINK function creates a hyperlink to a given destination with a "friendly name", which is simply the anchor text. You can use HYPERLINK to construct a clickable hyperlink with a formula. The HYPERLINK function can build links to other cells in a workbook, other sheets, named...Read more

The HLOOKUP function can locate and retrieve a value from data in a horizontal table. Like the "V" in VLOOKUP which stands for "vertical", the "H" in HLOOKUP stands for "horizontal". The lookup values must appear in the first row of the...Read more

The ROWS function returns the count of rows in a given reference as a number. For example, =ROWS(A1:A5) returns 5, since the range A1:A5 contains 5 rows. ROWS takes just one argument, called array, which can be a range or...Read more

The ROW function returns the row number for a cell or range. For example, =ROW(C3) returns 3, since C3 is the third row in the spreadsheet. When no reference is provided, ROW returns the row number of the cell which contains the formula. ROW takes just one argument, called reference,...Read more

The COLUMNS function returns the count of columns in a given reference as a number. For example, COLUMNS(A1:C3) returns 3, since the range A1:C3 contains 3 columns. COLUMNS takes just one argument, called array, which should be a range or...Read more

The COLUMN function returns the column number of a reference. For example, COLUMN(C5) returns 3, since C is the third column in the spreadsheet. COLUMN takes just one argument, called reference, which can be empty, a cell reference, or a range. When no reference is provided, COLUMN...Read more