Return value, if blank then return value of another cell

[mlu120]

Hi,

I want a formula that will return with the value of cell A1 but if cell A1 is blank, then it will take only the value of C1.

I tried using this formula - not working right.

Thanks

 

[CodeNinja]

=if(a1="",c1,a1)

 

[mlu120]

Hi it works when there is value is cell A1 but when there is a blank in A1, its not returning the value in C1.

 

[CodeNinja]

try =IF(TRIM(A1) = "",C1,A1)

That will work if there are spaces in A1 which is a little different than blank...

 

[mlu120]

thanks! it works. another question - would the results be the same if A1 and C1 have formulas in it?

 

[CodeNinja]

That is a loaded question... it depends on the formula... in most cases, it will work the same... If you have a simple formula in A1 "=A2" and A2 is Empty (nothing in it at all) then A1 will actually show a 0 and so will the result of the formula... if Cell A2 had a space in it, A1 would have a space, and the trim would work and you would get the result of C1...

Hope that isn't too confusing...

 

[mlu120]

When I have hard coded value in A1 - the formula works great. But if I tried A1 which as a summing formula in it - I get a blank return.

 

[CodeNinja]

I guess you could try =IF(A1 = 0,C1,A1)

These formulas all depend on the specific use you intend...

 

[maudwork]

=if(a1="",c1,a1)

Hi! Thank you for this reply which almost suits my needs.

I have an additional complexity, which is that I have 4 columns and the content I want to display can be in any one of them.

ex.
line one: col 1 is empty, col 2 is empty, col 3 is empty, col 4 has content
line two: col 1 has content, col 2 is empty, col 3 is empty, col 4 is empty
line three: col 1 is empty, col 2 has content, col 3 is empty, col 4 is empty

Could you help me with this?

Thank you so much

 

[maudwork]

=if(a1="",c1,a1)

Hi! this almost works for me, but in my case I need to check four columns instead of only two. Each time the result is in one of the columns, and others are empty.

Can you help me with this?