Selecting the last value of a column

Question

I have a spreadsheet with some values in column G. Some cells are empty in between, and I need to get the last value from that column into another cell.

Something li

Answer 1

LAST() function is not implemented at the moment in order to select the last cell within a range. However, following your example:

=LAST(G2:G9999)

we are able to obtain last cell using the couple of functions INDEX() and COUNT() in this way:

=INDEX(G2:G; COUNT(G2:G))

There is a live example at the spreedsheet where I have found (and solved) the same problem (sheet Orzamentos, cell I5). Note that it works perfectly even refering to other sheets within the document.

Answer 2

I was playing with the code given by @tinfini, and thought people might benefit from what I think is a slightly more elegant solution (note I don't think scripts worked quite the same way when he created the original answer)...

//Note that this function assumes a single column of values, it will 
//not  function properly if given a multi-dimensional array (if the 
//cells that are captured are not in a single row).

function LastInRange(values) 
{
  for (index = values.length - 1; values[index] == "" && index > 0; index--) {}
  return String(values[index]);
}

In usage it would look like this:

=LastInRange(D2:D)

Answer 3

The answer

$ =INDEX(G2:G; COUNT(G2:G))

doesn't work correctly in LibreOffice. However, with a small change, it works perfectly.

$ =INDEX(G2:G100000; COUNT(G2:G100000))

It always works only if the true range is smaller than (G2:G10000)

Answer 4

Summary:

=INDEX( FILTER( G2:G , NOT(ISBLANK(G2:G))) , COUNTA(G2:G) )

Details:

I've looked through and tried several answers, and here's what I've found: The simplest solution (see Dohmoose' answer) works if there are no blanks:

=INDEX(G2:G; COUNT(G2:G))

If you have blanks, it fails.

You can handle one blank by just changing from COUNT to COUNTA (See user3280071's answer):

=INDEX(G2:G; COUNTA(G2:G))

However, this will fail for some combinations of blanks. (1 blank 1 blank 1 fails for me.)

The following code works (See Nader's answer and jason's comment):

=INDEX( FILTER( G2:G , NOT(ISBLANK(G2:G))) , ROWS( FILTER( G2:G , NOT(ISBLANK(G2:G)) ) ) )

but it requires thinking about whether you want to use COLUMNS or ROWS for a given range.

However, if COLUMNS is replaced with COUNT I seem to get a reliable, blank-proof implementation of LAST:

=INDEX( FILTER( G2:G , NOT(ISBLANK(G2:G))) , COUNT( FILTER( G2:G , NOT(ISBLANK(G2:G)) ) ) ) 

And since COUNTA has the filter built in, we can simplify further using

=INDEX( FILTER( G2:G , NOT(ISBLANK(G2:G))) , COUNTA(G2:G) )

This is somewhat simple, and correct. And you don't have to worry about whether to count rows or columns. And unlike script solutions, it automatically updates with changes to the spreadsheet.

And if you want to get the last value in a row, just change the data range:

=INDEX( FILTER( A2:2 , NOT(ISBLANK(A2:2))) , COUNTA(A2:2) )

Answer 5

try this: =INDIRECT("B"&arrayformula(max((B3:B<>"")*row(B3:B))))

Suppose the column in which you are looking for the last value is B.

And yes, it works with blanks.

Answer 6

In a column with blanks, you can get the last value with

=+sort(G:G,row(G:G)*(G:G<>""),)