How to use IF function in Excel: examples for text, numbers, dates, blanks

In this article, you will learn how to build an Excel IF statement for different types of values as well as how to create multiple IF statements.

IF is one of the most popular and useful functions in Excel. Generally, you use an IF statement to test a condition and to return one value if the condition is met, and another value if the condition is not met.

In this tutorial, we are going to learn the syntax and common usages of the Excel IF function, and then take a closer look at formula examples that will hopefully prove helpful to both beginners and experienced users.

IF function in Excel

IF is one of logical functions that evaluates a certain condition and returns one value if the condition is TRUE, and another value if the condition is FALSE.

The syntax of the IF function is as follows:

IF(logical_test, [value_if_true], [value_if_false])

As you see, IF takes a total of 3 arguments, but only the first one is obligatory, the other two are optional.

Logical_test (required) - the condition to test. Can be evaluated as either TRUE or FALSE.

Value_if_true (optional) - the value to return when the logical test evaluates to TRUE, i.e. the condition is met. If omitted, the value_if_false argument must be defined.

Value_if_false (optional) - the value to return when the logical test evaluates to FALSE, i.e. the condition is not met. If omitted, the value_if_true argument must be set.

Basic IF formula in Excel

To create a simple If then statement in Excel, this is what you need to do:

  • For logical_test, write an expression that returns either TRUE or FALSE. For this, you'd normally use one of the logical operators.
  • For value_if_true, specify what to return when the logical test evaluates to TRUE.
  • For value_if_false, specify what to return when the logical test evaluates to FALSE. Though this argument is optional, we recommend always configuring it to avoid unexpected results. For the detailed explanation, please see Excel IF: things to know.

As an example, let's write a very simple IF formula that checks a value in cell A2 and returns "Good" if the value is greater than 80, "Bad" otherwise:

=IF(B2>80, "Good", "Bad")

This formula goes to C2, and then is copied down through C7: Basic IF formula in Excel.

In case you wish to return a value only when the condition is met (or not met), otherwise - nothing, then use an empty string ("") for the "undefined" argument. For example:

=IF(B2>80, "Good", "")

This formula will return "Good" if the value in A2 is greater than 80, a blank cell otherwise: IF formula to return nothing when the condition is not met.

Excel If then formula: things to know

Though the last two parameters of the IF function are optional, your formula may produce unexpected results if you don't know the underlying logic.

If value_if_true is omitted

If the 2nd argument of your Excel IF formula is omitted (i.e. there are two consecutive commas after the logical test), you'll get zero (0) when the condition is met, which makes no sense in most cases. Here is an example of such a formula:

=IF(B2>80, , "Bad")

To return a blank cell instead, supply an empty string ("") for the second parameter, like this:

=IF(B2>80, "", "Bad")

The screenshot below demonstrates the difference: The behavior of the value_if_true argument.

If value_if_false is omitted

Omitting the 3rd parameter of IF will produce the following results when the logical test evaluates to FALSE.

If there is just a closing bracket after value_if_true, the IF function will return the logical value FALSE. Quite unexpected, isn't it? Here is an example of such a formula:

=IF(B2>80, "Good")

Typing a comma after the value_if_true argument will force Excel to return 0, which doesn't make much sense either:

=IF(B2>80, "Good",)

The most reasonable approach is using a zero-length string ("") to get a blank cell when the condition is not met:

=IF(B2>80, "Good", "") The behavior of the value_if_false argument.

Tip. To return a logical value when the specified condition is met or not met, supply TRUE for value_if_true and FALSE for value_if_false. For the results to be Boolean values that other Excel functions can recognize, don't enclose TRUE and FALSE in double quotes as this will turn them into normal text values.

Using IF function in Excel - formula examples

Now that you are familiar with the IF function's syntax, let's look at some formula examples and learn how to use If then statements in real-life scenarios.

Excel IF function with numbers

To build an IF statement for numbers, use logical operators such as:

  • Equal to (=)
  • Not equal to (<>)
  • Greater than (>)
  • Greater than or equal to (>=)
  • Less than (<)
  • Less than or equal to (<=)

Above, you have already seen an example of such a formula that checks if a number is greater than a given number.

And here's a formula that checks if a cell contains a negative number:

=IF(B2<0, "Invalid", "")

For negative numbers (which are less than 0), the formula returns "Invalid"; for zeros and positive numbers - a blank cell. A formula to check if a cell contains a negative number.

Excel IF function with text

Commonly, you write an IF statement for text values using either "equal to" or "not equal to" operator.

For example, the following formula checks the Delivery Status in B2 to determine whether an action is required or not:

=IF(B2="delivered", "No", "Yes")

Translated into plain English, the formula says: return "No" if B2 is equal to "delivered", "Yes" otherwise. Using the IF function with text.

Another way to achieve the same result is to use the "not equal to" operator and swap the value_if_true and value_if_false values:

=IF(C2<>"delivered", "Yes", "No")

Notes:

  • When using text values for IF's parameters, remember to always enclose them in double quotes.
  • Like most other Excel functions, IF is case-insensitive by default. In the above example, it does not differentiate between "delivered", "Delivered", and "DELIVERED".

Case-sensitive IF statement for text values

To treat uppercase and lowercase letters as different characters, use IF in combination with the case-sensitive EXACT function.

For example, to return "No" only when B2 contains "DELIVERED" (the uppercase), you'd use this formula:

=IF(EXACT(B2,"DELIVERED"), "No", "Yes") Case-sensitive IF statement for text values.

If cell contains partial text

In situation when you want to base the condition on partial match rather than exact match, an immediate solution that comes to mind is using wildcards in the logical test. However, this simple and obvious approach won't work. Many functions accept wildcards, but regrettably IF is not one of them.

A working solution is to use IF in combination with ISNUMBER and SEARCH (case-insensitive) or FIND (case-sensitive).

For example, in case "No" action is required both for "Delivered" and "Out for delivery" items, the following formula will work a treat:

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("deliv", B2)), "No", "Yes") IF cell contains partial text.

For more information, please see:

Excel IF statement with dates

At first sight, it may seem that IF formulas for dates are akin to IF statements for numeric and text values. Regrettably, it is not so. Unlike many other functions, IF does recognize dates in logical tests and interprets them as mere text strings. In other words, you cannot supply a date in the form of "1/1/2020" or ">1/1/2020". To make the IF function recognize a date, you need to wrap it in the DATEVALUE function.

For example, here's how you can check if a given date is greater than another date:

=IF(B2>DATEVALUE("7/18/2022"), "Coming soon", "Completed")

This formula evaluates the dates in column B and returns "Coming soon" if a game is scheduled for 18-Jul-2022 or later, "Completed" for a prior date. Excel IF statement with dates.

Of course, there is nothing that would prevent you from entering the target date in a predefined cell (say E2) and referring to that cell. Just remember to lock the cell address with the $ sign to make it an absolute reference. For instance:

=IF(B2>$E$2, "Coming soon", "Completed")

To compare a date with the current date, use the TODAY() function. For example:

=IF(B2>TODAY(), "Coming soon", "Completed")

Excel IF statement for blanks and non-blanks

If you are looking to somehow mark your data based on a certain cell(s) being empty or not empty, you can either:

  • Use the IF function together with ISBLANK, or
  • Use the logical expressions ="" (equal to blank) or <>"" (not equal to blank).

The table below explains the difference between these two approaches with formula examples.

  Logical test Description Formula Example
Blank cells =""

Evaluates to TRUE if a cell is visually empty, even if it contains a zero-length string.

Otherwise, evaluates to FALSE.

 =IF(A1="", 0, 1)

Returns 0 if A1 is visually blank. Otherwise returns 1.

If A1 contains an empty string (""), the formula returns 0.
ISBLANK()

Evaluates to TRUE is a cell contains absolutely nothing - no formula, no spaces, no empty strings.

Otherwise, evaluates to FALSE.

 =IF(ISBLANK(A1), 0, 1)

Returns 0 if A1 is absolutely empty, 1 otherwise.

If A1 contains an empty string (""), the formula returns 1.
Non-blank cells <>"" Evaluates to TRUE if a cell contains some data. Otherwise, evaluates to FALSE.

Cells with zero-length strings are considered blank.

 =IF(A1<>"", 1, 0)

Returns 1 if A1 is non-blank; 0 otherwise.

If A1 contains an empty string, the formula returns 0.
ISBLANK()=FALSE Evaluates to TRUE if a cell is not empty. Otherwise, evaluates to FALSE.

Cells with zero-length strings are considered non-blank.

 =IF(ISBLANK(A1)=FALSE, 0, 1)

Works the same as the above formula, but returns 1 if A1 contains an empty string.

And now, let's see blank and non-blank IF statements in action. Suppose you have a date in column B only if a game has already been played. To label the completed games, use one of these formulas:

=IF(B2="", "", "Completed")

=IF(ISBLANK(B2), "", "Completed")

=IF($B2<>"", "Completed", "")

=IF(ISBLANK($B2)=FALSE, "Completed", "")

In case the tested cells have no zero-length strings, all the formulas will return exactly the same results: IF statement for blank and non-blank cells.

Check if two cells are the same

To create a formula that checks if two cells match, compare the cells by using the equals sign (=) in the logical test of IF. For example:

=IF(B2=C2, "Same score", "") Check if two cells contain the same values.

To check if the two cells contain same text including the letter case, make your IF formula case-sensitive with the help of the EXACT function.

For instance, to compare the passwords in A2 and B2, and returns "Match" if the two strings are exactly the same, "Do not match" otherwise, the formula is:

=IF(EXACT(A2, B2), "Match", "Don't match") Case-sensitive IF formula to check if two cells match.

IF then formula to run another formula

In all of the previous examples, an Excel IF statement returned values. But it can also perform a certain calculation or execute another formula when a specific condition is met or not met. For this, embed another function or arithmetic expression in the value_if_true and/or value_if_false arguments.

For example, if B2 is greater than 80, we'll have it multiplied by 7%, otherwise by 3%:

=IF(B2>80, B2*7%, B2*3%) IF formula that runs another formula.

Multiple IF statements in Excel

In essence, there are two ways to write multiple IF statements in Excel:

  • Nesting several IF functions one into another
  • Using the AND or OR function in the logical test

Nested IF statement

Nested IF functions let you place multiple IF statements in the same cell, i.e. test multiple conditions within one formula and return different values depending on the results of those tests.

Assume your goal is to assign different bonuses based on the score:

  • Over 90 - 10%
  • 90 to 81 - 7%
  • 80 to 70 - 5%
  • Less than 70 - 3%

To accomplish the task, you write 3 separate IF functions and nest them one into another like this:

=IF(B2>90, 10%, IF(B2>=81, 7%, IF(B2>=70, 5%, 3%))) Nested IF statement.

For more formula examples, please see:

Excel IF statement with multiple conditions

To evaluate several conditions with the AND or OR logic, embed the corresponding function in the logical test:

For example, to return "Pass" if both scores in B2 and C2 are higher than 80, the formula is:

=IF(AND(B2>80, C2>80), "Pass", "Fail")

To get "Pass" if either score is higher than 80, the formula is:

=IF(OR(B2>80, C2>80), "Pass", "Fail") Excel IF statement with multiple conditions.

For full details, please visit:

If error in Excel

Starting from Excel 2007, we have a special function, named IFERROR, to check formulas for errors. In Excel 2013 and higher, there is also the IFNA function to handle #N/A errors.

And still, there may be some circumstances when using the IF function together with ISERROR or ISNA is a better solution. Basically, IF ISERROR is the formula to use when you want to return something if error and something else if no error. The IFERROR function is unable to do that as it always returns the result of the main formula if it isn't an error.

For example, to compare each score in column B against the top 3 scores in E2:E4, and return "Yes" if a match is found, "No" otherwise, you enter this formula in C2, and then copy it down through C7:

=IF(ISERROR(MATCH(B2, $E$2:$E$4, 0)), "No", "Yes" ) If error formula in Excel.

For more information, please see IF ISERROR formula in Excel.

Hopefully, our examples have helped you get a grasp of the Excel IF basics. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week!

Practice workbook

Excel IF statement - formula examples (.xlsx file)

Table of contents

4800 comments

  1. I created a simple (so I thought) time sheet so in a single column there would be start and stop times (using decimels not times, 12.50 is twelve thirty). Below those entries are cells to calculate 1. the total amount of time, 2. a balance of $ from the previous day, 3. the amount $ for the current day, 4. amount $ of any materials purchased (no formula in cell), 5. total of $ adding the 3 cells above, 6. a cell to enter amount of pay given to worker, 7. a balance cell calculating any balance remaining after payment given to the worker. I use the logical =IF(E70,E70-E71,"") format for making the calculations in all the cells. If there are no start stop times I see the error message #VALUE! in only three of the cells with formulas in them. The #3, #5, #7. I see an empty cell in the first cell with a formula in it, #1 but despite the, "" indicator for the FALSE response, I see the error message #VALUE! How can I create a formula to accomplish the calculations I have, with out seeing error messages?
    Thank you very much.
    Gary Schimelfenig

  2. Hi I am trying to highlight text in a cell based on cell value, for example, if cell contains win, want that text in Green, Waiting in range, Lost in red, I can only do one value of text not multiple, as I can do with number values

    Help!
    Shri

  3. I am trying to get a cell to have it's background turn red if the result of it's formula is greater than 0 if I have a date in a cell, and nothing in a second cell. This is what I typed but I get an error and not sure why.
    =if (and (isblank($C2),$E2="",$F2>0),0 ,1)

    • Also tried this "=if (AND (isblank($C2)=false, isblank($E2), $F2>0),1 ,0)" still doesn't work, Notsure what I'm doing wrong

  4. Hi,
    I want to add up the main totals of sheets 1, 2 and 3 in an excel document, to separate excel sheet.
    How the document works: This BOQ is used to add up codes/qty/price/etc. When sheet 1 is full and sheet 2 and / or 3 is used the total of the previous sheet shows “see next sheet“ in the total block and the main total only reflects on the last sheet used.
    If for example only sheet 1 is used the total only shows on that sheet it doesn’t show on the other sheets that are not used.
    My question: How can I add all three sheet totals without the words “see next sheet” interfering and I also need to add it in a way that it doesn’t count a sheet total twice as it is already calculated on the last sheet used.
    Maybe if the formula sees the word “see next page” it can count the total of the next sheet until it finds the sheet with an actual total amount.
    Please could you help. Thank you in advance.

  5. I am trying to do the following:
    Row 1 options: No, Yes-2nd, Yes 3rd. (Drop down options)
    Row two needs to equal:
    No= $100
    Yes, 2nd= $50
    Yes, 3rd= $30.

    I can figure it out to be No= $100, but then if I put Yes, 2nd or Yes, 3rd it equals $50.

    Help please!!

    • Is it possible to change the options to Yes1 or Yes2? This might be an easier way of going about this.

  6. i want month wise count the consignment(s) by formula
    Eg...
    The Month is April
    Assign April = "04"
    Now count Numbers until the month is not changed from 04 to 05
    for example
    1/4/19 = 1
    5/4/19 = 2
    10/4/19 = 3
    11/4/19 = 4
    but..
    01/5/19 = 1
    2/5/19 = 2
    so, please give me the right formula for the same

    • To begin with, you need to make sure the data is sorted by date. This is important for the below steps to work.
      Now let us assume you have the date values from A1 to A6. Column B will have the following values:
      B1=1
      B2=IF(MONTH(A2)MONTH(A1), 1, B1+1)
      For the rest of the B columns, you can copy paste the B2(You can also drag). So the formula for B3 will be like =IF(MONTH(A3)MONTH(A2), 1, B2+1) and B4 will be =IF(MONTH(A4)MONTH(A3), 1, B3+1)

      Hope this helps

  7. Dear All Expert,
    I have a number in table range as show below and how to make the tolerance formula.

    Reference target tolerance is 5%
    Reference target value is Last day will be Beginning for next week

    Week 2 reference target is last day output at week 1, 190. Week 2 are trigger as 1 because week 2 contain the value below and above on 5% tolerance for 190. Minimum is 180, maximum is 199.

    Reference target for week 3 is the last day of week 2, 200. Minimum 5% tolerance for 200 is 190 and maximum 5 % is 210. Week 3 not have any output below 190 or more than 210, so result will show 0.

    Reference target for week 4 are the ending day at week 3, 199 output as a reference for week 4 tolerance. Meaning that minimum and maximum 5% of 199 is 189 and 209. So if week 4 reach the output below than 189 or more than 209 it will trigger as 1. Result for week 4 is 1 because 27 Aug reach the bottleneck of below the minimum output of 189.
    Week Date Output Trigger
    4 31 Aug 206 1
    4 30 Aug 201
    4 29 Aug 196
    4 28 Aug 206
    4 27 Aug 187
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    3 26 Aug 199 0
    3 25 Aug 195
    3 24 Aug 202
    3 23 Aug 208
    3 22 Aug 209
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    2 21 Aug 200
    2 20 Aug 130
    2 19 Aug 160
    2 18 Aug 145
    2 17 Aug 170
    -------------------------------------------------------------
    1 16 Aug 190
    1 15 Aug 150

    Appreciate for your kind helpful.

  8. Dear Sir,
    how to EQUAL name with number like a(mdg 0001 + mdg 0002 = mdg 0003)

  9. Hello I'm using this function below but I keep getting a name response instead of what I am looking for. Is there something wrong with the syntax?

    =IF(AND(C3=WHITE, D3=Y), [WhiteY], [FalseWhite])

    Thanks

    • Use this instead
      =IF(AND(C3="WHITE", D3="Y"), C3&D3, "Falsewhite")
      Note: When you are comparing text, the double quotes sign is required.

  10. I'm trying to put together a formula that will look at a cell and a date and then search two columns to see if those two entries exist and to return a True/False response.

    • =IF(AND(A2=D2,B2=E2),"TRUE","FALSE")

  11. Hi
    I have a 2013 Excel spreadsheet based on Wool Bales. I need to find out the Average cost per lot number (Most of these lots have multiple lines).
    I also need to find out the total count of wool bales that have a physical bin (location) number. These are in two separate columns, and some of the locations are blank cells.
    Can anyone help?

  12. Hi all
    I just want to ask,it is possible to use If function if there is a gap in the given range?

    • You can use countif function. The following line looks at blank values("") in the Range A1 to B10, and returns TRUE if there is a blank cell.
      =COUNTIF(A1:B10,"")>0

  13. Madam
    With A column time to B column time if 1 hour late meens c column need to show as "Late" how formala. Pls

    • Assuming B1 is always greater than equal to A1, you can use the following command
      =IF(TEXT(B1-A1,"h")"0","Late","")

  14. Hi. Can you please help me. I already have the IF formula where i want to generate a specific value from a column if between date range.
    Example:
    Column A1 Start Date, Column B1 End Date, Column C1 Headcount
    Data in 2nd row: Headcount of 6 from Jan. 1, 2014 up to Jan.31, 2015
    FOrmula in Column D1
    =IF(AND(D1>A2, D1<B2), C2, 0)
    The formula is working fine but he problem is when here is blank or no date in End date column. I would like to make use of one formula only that will work whether the End date has data or not.

    Your help is very much appreciated. Thanks

  15. Hi,

    How to handle situation:
    I have I3 value 153022, and I need that if char 1 value is bigger than 2 (or I could use also equal to 7) then it gives to cell K3 value KO and otherwise leave empty. I used =IF(LEFT(I3;1)=7;"K0";" ") but it returns no value to anywhere.

    Please advise - is this even possible to do that?

    • =IF(LEFT(I3,1)=7,"K0","")

      Just change the semicolon ";" to a comma ",".

      • Upon further review, you may need to add quotations to the 7.
        =IF(LEFT(I3,1)="7","K0","")
        or
        =IF(LEFT(I3,1)>1,"K0","")

        I'm not sure why it works with > without quotations but, does not with =.

  16. Sir,
    I have 2 data 1 is feed back taken list another one is feedback to be taken list.
    i want to fill the remark as "old customer" and "new customer" with 2 data

  17. A B C D
    Deductible Nil Discount KWD 1.500/- 0 1.5
    Deductible Nil Discount Nil. 0 0 0
    Deductible Nil Discount KWD 0.750/- 0 0.75
    Deductible Nil Discount KWD 1.500/- 0 1.5
    Deductible Nil Discount KWD 1.250/- 0 1.25

    HI FRIENDS, ASSUME ABOVE MENTION IS TABLE AND I WANT TO KNOW C COLUMN NUMBERS ARE PLACED IN THE A COLUMN. IF THERE IS ANY EQUATION IS AVAILABLE
    NOTE: A COLUMN CONTAIN TEXTS AND NUMBERS.

  18. M8 me value chahiya

    j8 me zero value he to M8 me E8 ka data aana chahi a

    • You can use a simple IF statement for this
      =IF(J8="", E8, "")
      or
      =IF(J8=0, E8, "")

  19. =IF(LEFT(A3,1)=6,Y,"") not working????????

    • =IF(LEFT(A3,1)="6","Y","")
      Seems you have to use "" when using the = on the Left function.

  20. Still a problem to paste the formula.
    In other words, I wish to insert categories in a column refering to the precedent showing the number of habitants per municipality. To analyse thousands of lines, my categories are for a number of habitants between:
    0 and 999: A
    1000 and 2499: B
    2500 and 4999: C
    5000 and 9999: D
    10 000 and 19 999: E
    20 000 and 500 000: F
    So sorry that the copy/paste is not working for the formula... Thank you for your help

    • =IF(C1147=1000,C1147=2500,C1147=5000,C1147=10000,C1147=20000,C1147<500000),"F",))))))

      • =IF(C1147=1000,C1147=2500,C1147=5000,C1147=10000,C1147=20000,C1147<500000),"F",))))))

        Something is wrong with the original, it didn't post the whole formula.

        • Something is wrong with the these forums as it doesn't seem to let me post the actual formula.

          =IF(C1147=1000,C1147=2500,C1147=5000,C1147=10000,C1147=20000,C1147<500000),"F",))))))

    • Hi Dalia,

      I seem to have the same problem and for your formula, you have to use If(and(

      Ex. if(and(C1147>=10000,C1147<19999),"E",[similar formula with updated range]

Post a comment



Thank you for your comment!
When posting a question, please be very clear and concise. This will help us provide a quick and relevant solution to
your query. We cannot guarantee that we will answer every question, but we'll do our best :)