Excel ISBLANK Function - Corporate Finance Institute

The ISBLANK function is useful in checking if a cell is blank or not. For example, if A5 contains a formula that returns an empty string “” as a result, the ... ISBLANKFunctionChecksifaspecifiedcellisblankornotHome›Resources›ExcelResources›Functions›ISBLANKFunctionWhatisExcelISBLANKFunction?TheISBLANKfunctionisanExcelInformationfunctionFunctionsListofthemostimportantExcelfunctionsforfinancialanalysts.Thischeatsheetcovers100soffunctionsthatarecriticaltoknowasanExcelanalyst thatreturnstrueiftheargumentcellhasnoinformationinit.ISBLANKchecksaspecifiedcellandtellsusifitisblankornot.Ifitisblank,itwillreturnTRUE;else,itwillreturnFALSE.ThefunctionwasintroducedinMSExcel2007.InfinancialanalysisFinancialAnalystJobDescriptionThefinancialanalystjobdescriptionbelowgivesatypicalexampleofalltheskills,education,andexperiencerequiredtobehiredforananalystjobatabank,institution,orcorporation.Performfinancialforecasting,reporting,andoperationalmetricstracking,analyzefinancialdata,createfinancialmodels,wedealwithdataallthetime.TheISBLANKfunctionisusefulincheckingifacellisblankornot.Forexample,ifA5containsaformulathatreturnsanemptystring“”asaresult,thefunctionwillreturnFALSE.Thus,ithelpsinremovingbothregularandnon-breakingspacecharacters.However,ifacellcontainsgooddata,aswellasnon-breakingspaces,itispossibletoremovethenon-breakingspacesfromthedata. Formula=ISBLANK(value)Where:Value(requiredargument)isthevaluethatwewishtotest.(Thisfunctiontakesinacell)HowtousetheExcelISBLANKFunctionAsaworksheetfunction,ISBLANKcanbeenteredaspartofaformulainacellofaworksheet.Tounderstandtheusesofthisfunction,letusconsiderafewexamples:HighlightMissingValues–ExampleSupposewearegiventhefollowingdata:  Supposewewishtohighlightcellsthatareempty.WecanusetheISBLANKcoupledwithconditionalformatting.Forexample,supposewewanttohighlighttheblankcellsintherangeA2:F9,weselecttherangeanduseaconditionalformattingrulewiththefollowingformula:=ISBLANK(A2:F9). Howtodoconditionalformatting?UnderHometab–Styles,clickonConditionalFormatting.ThenclickonNewRuleandthenselect–UseaFormulatodeterminewhichcellstoformat:  Theinputformulaisshownbelow:  Wewillgettheresultsbelow.Conditionalformattingdidn’thighlightcellE5.Afterchecking,thereisaformulainsertedintothecell.  TheExcelISBLANKfunctionwillreturnTRUEwhenacellisactuallyempty.Ifacellisanemptystring(“”),ISBLANKwillreturnFALSE,asitisnottechnicallyblank, anditwon’tbehighlightedasshownabove. ExtractingthefirstNON-BlankvalueinanarraySupposewewishtogetthefirstnon-blankvalue(textornumber)inaone-rowrange.WecanuseanarrayformulabasedontheINDEX,MATCH,andISBLANKfunctions.Wearegiventhedatabelow:  Here,wewanttogetthefirstnon-blankcell,butwedon’thaveadirectwaytodothatinExcel.WecoulduseVLOOKUPwithawildcard*,butthatwillonlyworkfortext,notnumbers.Hence,weneedtobuildthefunctionalitybynestingformulas.Onewaytodoitistouseanarrayfunctionthat“tests”cellsandreturnsanarrayofTRUE/FALSEvaluesthatwecanthenmatchwithMATCH.NowMATCHlooksforFALSEinsidethearrayandreturnsthepositionofthefirstmatchfound,which,inthiscase,is2.NowtheINDEXfunctiontakesoverandgetsthevalueatposition2inthearray,which,inthiscase,isthevaluePEACHES.Asthisisanarrayformula,weneedtoenteritwithCTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.  Wegettheresultsbelow:  ClickheretodownloadthesampleExcelfile AdditionalresourcesThanksforreadingCFI’sguidetoimportantExcelfunctions!Bytakingthetimetolearnandmasterthesefunctions,you’llsignificantlyspeedupyourfinancialmodelingandvaluationanalysis.Tolearnmore,checkouttheseadditionalCFIresources:ExcelFunctionsforFinanceExcelforFinanceThisExcelforFinanceguidewillteachthetop10formulasandfunctionsyoumustknowtobeagreatfinancialanalystinExcel.AdvancedExcelFormulasCourseAdvancedExcelFormulasYouMustKnowAdvancedExcelFormulasMustKnowTheseadvancedExcelformulasarecriticaltoknowandwilltakeyourfinancialanalysisskillstothenextlevel.DownloadourfreeExcelebook!ExcelShortcutsforPCandMacExcelShortcutsPCMacExcelShortcuts-Listofthemostimportant&commonMSExcelshortcutsforPC&Macusers,finance,accountingprofessions.Keyboardshortcutsspeedupyourmodelingskillsandsavetime.Learnediting,formatting,navigation,ribbon,pastespecial,datamanipulation,formulaandcellediting,andothershortuctsFreeExcelTutorialTomastertheartofExcel,checkoutCFI’sFREEExcelCrashCourse,whichteachesyouhowtobecomeanExcelpoweruser. Learnthemostimportantformulas,functions,andshortcutstobecomeconfidentinyourfinancialanalysis. LaunchCFI’sFreeExcelCoursenowtotakeyourcareertothenextlevelandmoveuptheladder!CorporateFinanceInstituteBacktoWebsite0searchresultsfor‘’Peoplealsosearchfor:excelFreefreecoursesBalancesheetaccountingIRRwaccExploreOurCertificationsFinancialModeling&ValuationAnalyst(FMVA)®LearnmoreCommercialBanking&CreditAnalyst(CBCA)™LearnmoreCapitalMarkets&SecuritiesAnalyst(CMSA)®LearnmoreCertifiedBusinessIntelligence&DataAnalyst(BIDA)™LearnmoreResourcesExcelShortcutsPCMacListofExcelShortcuts Excelshortcuts-Itmayseemsloweratfirstifyou'reusedtothemouse,butit'sworththeinvestmenttotakethetimeand...FreeFinancialModelingGuideACompleteGuidetoFinancialModeling Thisresourceisdesignedtobethebestfreeguidetofinancialmodeling! Wewillbreakdownthemostimportant...SQLDataTypesWhatareSQLDataTypes? 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