Case Function Equivalent in Excel

Question

I have an interesting challenge - I need to run a check on the following data in Excel:

|   A  -   B  -   C  -  D   |
|------|------|------|------|
|  36  |          


        

Answer 1

If you don't have a SWITCH statement in your Excel version (pre-Excel-2016), here's a VBA implementation for it:

Public Function SWITCH(ParamArray args() As Variant) As Variant
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim val As Variant
    Dim tmp As Variant

    If ((UBound(args) - LBound(args)) = 0) Or (((UBound(args) - LBound(args)) Mod 2 = 0)) Then
        Error 450       'Invalid arguments
    Else
        val = args(LBound(args))
        i = LBound(args) + 1
        tmp = args(UBound(args))

        While (i < UBound(args))
            If val = args(i) Then
                tmp = args(i + 1)
            End If
            i = i + 2
        Wend
    End If

    SWITCH = tmp
End Function

It works exactly like expected, a drop-in replacement for example for Google Spreadsheet's SWITCH function.

Syntax:

=SWITCH(selector; [keyN; valueN;] ...  defaultvalue)

where

• selector is any expression that is compared to keys
• key1, key2, ... are expressions that are compared to the selector
• value1, value2, ... are values that are selected if the selector equals to the corresponding key (only)
• defaultvalue is used if no key matches the selector

Examples:

=SWITCH("a";"?")                       returns "?"
=SWITCH("a";"a";"1";"?")               returns "1"
=SWITCH("x";"a";"1";"?")               returns "?"
=SWITCH("b";"a";"1";"b";TRUE;"?")      returns TRUE
=SWITCH(7;7;1;7;2;0)                   returns 2
=SWITCH("a";"a";"1")                   returns #VALUE!

To use it, open your Excel, go to Develpment tools tab, click Visual Basic, rightclick on ThisWorkbook, choose Insert, then Module, finally copy the code into the editor. You have to save as a macro-friendly Excel workbook (xlsm).

Answer 2

The Switch function is now available, in Excel 2016 / Office 365

_{SWITCH(expression, value1, result1, [default or value2, result2],…[default or value3, result3])}

example:
=SWITCH(A1,0,"FALSE",-1,"TRUE","Maybe")

Microsoft -Office Support

Note: MS has updated that page to only document the behavior of Excel 2019. Eventually, they will probably remove references to 2019 as well... To see what the page looked like in 2016, use the wayback machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20161010180642/https://support.office.com/en-us/article/SWITCH-function-47ab33c0-28ce-4530-8a45-d532ec4aa25e

Answer 3

Try this;

=IF(B1>=0, B1, OFFSET($X$1, MATCH(B1, $X:$X, Z) - 1, Y)

WHERE
X = The columns you are indexing into
Y = The number of columns to the left (-Y) or right (Y) of the indexed column to get the value you are looking for
Z = 0 if exact-match (if you want to handle errors)

Answer 4

Sounds like a job for VLOOKUP!

You can put your 32 -> 1420 type mappings in a couple of columns somewhere, then use the VLOOKUP function to perform the lookup.

Answer 5

I understand that this is a response to an old post-

I like the If() function combined with Index()/Match():

=IF(B2>0,"x",INDEX($H$2:$I$9,MATCH(A2,$H$2:$H$9,0),2))

The if function compare what is in column b and if it is greater than 0, it returns x, if not it uses the array (table of information) identified by the Index() function and selected by Match() to return the value that a corresponds to.

The Index array has the absolute location set $H$2:$I$9 (the dollar signs) so that the place it points to will not change as the formula is copied. The row with the value that you want returned is identified by the Match() function. Match() has the added value of not needing a sorted list to look through that Vlookup() requires. Match() can find the value with a value: 1 less than, 0 exact, -1 greater than. I put a zero in after the absolute Match() array $H$2:$H$9 to find the exact match. For the column that value of the Index() array that one would like returned is entered. I entered a 2 because in my array the return value was in the second column. Below my index array looked like this:

32   1420

36   1650

40   1790

44   1860

55   2010

The value in your 'a' column to search for in the list is in the first column in my example and the corresponding value that is to be return is to the right. The look up/reference table can be on any tab in the work book - or even in another file. -Book2 is the file name, and Sheet2 is the 'other tab' name.

=IF(B2>0,"x",INDEX([Book2]Sheet2!$A$1:$B$8,MATCH(A2,[Book2]Sheet2!$A$1:$A$8,0),2))

If you do not want x return when the value of b is greater than zero delete the x for a 'blank'/null equivalent or maybe put a 0 - not sure what you would want there.

Below is beginning of the function with the x deleted.

=IF(B2>0,"",INDEX...

Answer 6

I know it a little late to answer but I think this short video will help you a lot.

http://www.xlninja.com/2012/07/25/excel-choose-function-explained/

Essentially it is using the choose function. He explains it very well in the video so I'll let do it instead of typing 20 pages.

Another video of his explains how to use data validation to populate a drop down which you can select from a limited range.

http://www.xlninja.com/2012/08/13/excel-data-validation-using-dependent-lists/

You could combine the two and use the value in the drop down as your index to the choose function. While he did not show how to combine them, I'm sure you could figure it out as his videos are good. If you have trouble, let me know and I'll update my answer to show you.