Excel if check for error

How to correct a #VALUE! error in the IF function

IF is one of the most versatile and popular functions in Excel, and is often used multiple times in a single formula, as well as in combination with other functions. Unfortunately, because of the complexity with which IF statements can be built, it is fairly easy to run into the #VALUE! error. You can usually suppress the error by adding error-handling specific functions like ISERROR, ISERR, or IFERROR to your formula.

Problem: The argument refers to error values

When there is a cell reference to an error value, IF displays the #VALUE! error.

Solution: You can use any of the error-handling formulas such as ISERROR, ISERR, or IFERROR along with IF. The following topics explain how to use IF, ISERROR and ISERR, or IFERROR in a formula when your argument refers to error values.

IFERROR was introduced in Excel 2007, and is far more preferable to ISERROR or ISERR, as it doesn’t require a formula to be constructed redundantly. ISERROR and ISERR force a formula to be calculated twice, first to see if it evaluates to an error, then again to return its result. IFERROR only calculates once.

=IFERROR(Formula,0) is much better than =IF(ISERROR(Formula,0,Formula))

Problem: The syntax is incorrect

If a function’s syntax is not constructed correctly, it can return the #VALUE! error.

Solution: Make sure you are constructing the syntax properly. Here’s an example of a well-constructed formula that nests an IF function inside another IF function to calculate deductions based on income level.

=IF(E2 IF(the value in cell A5 is less than 31,500, then multiply the value by 15%. But IF it’s not, check to see if the value is less than 72,500. IF it is, multiply by 25%, otherwise multiply by 28%).

To use IFERROR with an existing formula, you just wrap the completed formula with IFERROR:

=IFERROR(IF(E2 Note: The evaluation values in formulas don’t have commas. If you add them, the IF function will try to use them as arguments and Excel will yell at you. On the other hand, the percentage multipliers have the % symbol. This tells Excel you want those values to be seen as percentages. Otherwise, you would need to enter them as their actual percentage values, like “E2*0.25”.

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You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the Answers community.

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IFERROR function

You can use the IFERROR function to trap and handle errors in a formula. IFERROR returns a value you specify if a formula evaluates to an error; otherwise, it returns the result of the formula.

Syntax

The IFERROR function syntax has the following arguments:

value Required. The argument that is checked for an error.

value_if_error Required. The value to return if the formula evaluates to an error. The following error types are evaluated: #N/A, #VALUE!, #REF!, #DIV/0!, #NUM!, #NAME?, or #NULL!.

If value or value_if_error is an empty cell, IFERROR treats it as an empty string value («»).

If value is an array formula, IFERROR returns an array of results for each cell in the range specified in value. See the second example below.

Examples

Copy the example data in the following table, and paste it in cell A1 of a new Excel worksheet. For formulas to show results, select them, press F2, and then press Enter.

=IFERROR(A2/B2, «Error in calculation»)

Checks for an error in the formula in the first argument (divide 210 by 35), finds no error, and then returns the results of the formula

=IFERROR(A3/B3, «Error in calculation»)

Checks for an error in the formula in the first argument (divide 55 by 0), finds a division by 0 error, and then returns value_if_error

Error in calculation

=IFERROR(A4/B4, «Error in calculation»)

Checks for an error in the formula in the first argument (divide «» by 23), finds no error, and then returns the results of the formula.

Example 2

Error in calculation

Checks for an error in the formula in the first argument in the first element of the array (A2/B2 or divide 210 by 35), finds no error, and then returns the result of the formula

Checks for an error in the formula in the first argument in the second element of the array (A3/B3 or divide 55 by 0), finds a division by 0 error, and then returns value_if_error

Error in calculation

Checks for an error in the formula in the first argument in the third element of the array (A4/B4 or divide «» by 23), finds no error, and then returns the result of the formula

Note: If you have a current version of Microsoft 365, then you can input the formula in the top-left-cell of the output range, then press ENTER to confirm the formula as a dynamic array formula. Otherwise, the formula must be entered as a legacy array formula by first selecting the output range, input the formula in the top-left-cell of the output range, then press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to confirm it. Excel inserts curly brackets at the beginning and end of the formula for you. For more information on array formulas, see Guidelines and examples of array formulas.

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You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the Answers community.

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ISERROR Excel Function

ISERROR Function in Excel

ISERROR is a logical function that is used to identify whether the cells being referred to have an error or not. This function identifies all the mistakes. If any error is found in the cell, it returns “TRUE” as a result, and if the cell has no errors, it gives “FALSE” as a result. This function takes a cell reference as an argument.

ISERROR function in Excel checks if any given expression returns an error in Excel.

For example, suppose you have a dataset and applied the ISERROR formula to divide the number by 0. In such a scenario, the ISERROR Excel function verifies the value and returns ” TRUE” if it possesses an error. Therefore, Excel displays the #DIV/0! Error. Conversely, as a result, it provides ” FALSE” if it does not consist of any error.

Table of contents

ISERROR Formula in Excel

Arguments used for ISERROR Function.

Value: The expression or value to be tested for error.

The value can be a number, text, mathematical operation, or expression.

Returns

The output of ISERROR in Excel is a logical expression. If the supplied argument gives an error in Excel, it returns “TRUE.” Otherwise, it returns “FALSE.” For error messages- #N/A, #VALUE!, #REF!, #DIV/0!, #NUM!, #NAME?, and #NULL! generated by Excel, the function returns “TRUE.”

ISERROR in Excel – Illustration

Suppose we want to see if a number gives an error when divided by another number.

Press the “Enter” key.

It returns “TRUE.”

We can also refer to cell references in the ISERROR in Excel. Let us now check what will happen when we divide one cell by an empty cell.

When we enter the syntax:
= ISERROR ( A5/B5 )
Given that B5 is an empty cell.

The ISERROR in Excel will return “TRUE.”

We can also check if any cell contains an error message. Suppose cell B6 has #VALUE! Which is an error in Excel. We may directly input the cell reference in the ISERROR in Excel to check if there is an error message or not as:

The ISERROR function in Excel will return “TRUE.”

Suppose we refer to an empty cell (B7 in this case) and use the following syntax:

Press the “Enter” key.

The ISERROR function in Excel may return “FALSE” since the Excel ISERROR function does not check for an empty cell. A blank cell is often considered zero in Excel. So, as we may have noticed above, if we refer to an empty cell in an operation such as division, it will be an error as it is trying to divide it by zero and thus returns “TRUE.”

How to Use the ISERROR Function in Excel?

The ISERROR function in Excel is used to identify cells containing an error. For example, there is often an occurrence of missing values in the data. If a further operation is carried out on such cells, the Excel may get an error. Similarly, if we divide any number by zero, it returns an error. Such errors further intervene if any other operation is carried out on these cells. In such cases, we can first check if there is an error in the operation. If yes, we can choose not to include such cells or modify the operation later.

ISERROR in Excel Example #1

Suppose we have the actual and forecast values of an experiment. The values are given in cells B4: C15.

We want to calculate the error rate in this experiment, which is given as (Actual – Forecast) / Actual. However, we also know that some of the actual values are zero, and the error rate for such actual values will give an error. Therefore, we have decided to calculate the error for only those experiments which do not provide an error. To do this, we may use the following syntax for the first set of values:

We apply the ISERROR formula in Excel = IF( ISERROR ( (C4-B4) / C4 ), “” , (C4-B4) / C4)

Since the first experimental values do not have any error in calculating the error rate, it will return the error rate.

We will get -0.129

You may now drag it to the rest of the cells.

We will realize that the syntax returns no value when the actual value is zero (cell C9).

Now, let us see the syntax in detail.

= IF( ISERROR ( (C4-B4) / C4 ), “” , (C4-B4) / C4 )

• ISERROR ( (C4-B4) / C4 ) will check if the mathematical operation (C4-B4) / C4 gives an error. In this case, it will return “FALSE.”
• If (ISERROR ( (C4-B4) / C4 ) ) returns “TRUE,” the IF function will not return anything.
• If (ISERROR ( (C4-B4) / C4 ) ) returns “FALSE,” the IF function will return (C4-B4) / C4.

ISERROR in Excel Example #2

Suppose we are given some data in B4:B10. Some of the cells contain errors.

We want to check how many cells right from B4: B10 have an error. To do this, we may use the following ISERROR formula in Excel:

= SUMPRODUCT ( — ISERROR ( B4:B10 ) )

And press the “Enter” key.

Let us see the syntax in detail:

• ISERROR ( B4:B10 ) will look for errors in B4:B10 and return an array of TRUE or FALSE. Here, it will return
• — ISERROR ( B4:B10 ) will then coerce TRUE/ FALSE to 0 and 1. It will return
• SUMPRODUCT (– ISERROR ( B4:B10 ) ) will then sum <0; 0; 0; 1; 0; 1; 0>and return 2.

ISERROR in Excel Example #3

Suppose we have the enrollment ID, name, and marks of students enrolled in the course, given in cells B5:D11.

We must search for the student name given its enrollment ID several times. Now, we want to make the search easier by writing a syntax such that:

For any given ID, it should be able to give the corresponding name. Sometimes, the enrollment ID may not be present on the list. In such cases, it should return “Not found.” We can do this by using the ISERROR formula in Excel:

= IF( ISERROR( VLOOKUP( F5, CHOOSE( <1,2>, $B$5:$B$11, $C$5:$C$11 ) , 2, 0) ), “Not present”, VLOOKUP( F5, CHOOSE( <1,2>, $B$5:$B$11, $C$5:$C$11 ), 2, 0) )

Let us look at the ISERROR formula in Excel first:

• CHOOSE( <1,2>, $B$5:$B$11, $C$5:$C$11 ) will make an array and return
• VLOOKUP( F5, CHOOSE( <1,2>, $B$5:$B$11, $C$5:$C$11 ) , 2, 0) ) will then look for F5 in the array and return its 2 nd
• ISERROR( VLOOKUP( F5, CHOOSE(..) ) will check if there is an error in the function and return TRUE or FALSE.
• IF (ISERROR( VLOOKUP( F5, CHOOSE(..) ), “Not present,” VLOOKUP( F5, CHOOSE() )) will return the corresponding name of the student if present. Else it will return “Not present.”

Use the ISERROR formula in Excel For 1403 in cell F5.

It will return the name “Ajay.”

For 1410, the syntax will return “Not present.”

Things to Know about the ISERROR Function in Excel

• The ISERROR function in Excel checks if any given expression returns an error.
• It returns logical values, “TRUE” or “FALSE.”
• It tests for #N/A, #VALUE!, #REF!, #DIV/0!, #NUM!, #NAME?, and #NULL!.

ISERROR Excel Function Video

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to ISERROR Function in Excel. Here, we discuss the ISERROR formula in Excel and how to use ISERROR in Excel, along with Excel examples and downloadable Excel templates. You may also look at these useful functions in Excel: –

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