ISBLANK

Excel Functions

Test if a cell is empty

Syntax

EXCEL

=ISBLANK(value)

Arguments

Parameter	Description
`value`	The value to check.

Return Value

A logical value (TRUE or FALSE)

Details

The ISBLANK function is a simple function to test if a cell is empty or not. If a cell is empty, ISBLANK returns TRUE. If a cell contains any value, ISBLANK returns FALSE. ISBLANK function takes one argument, value, which is a cell reference like A1. For example, if cell A1 contains nothing at all, the ISBLANK function will return TRUE: If cell A1 contains any value or any formula, the ISBLANK function will return FALSE: Here are some things you should know about the ISBLANK function: In the worksheet below, the ISBLANK function is used to test if cells in column B are empty. The formula in cell C5 is: As the formula is copied down, it returns TRUE if the corresponding cell in column B is empty and FALSE if not. Notice the result in cell C8 is FALSE even though cell B8 looks empty. However

Examples

Example 1

The ISBLANK function is a simple function to test if a cell is empty or not. If a cell is empty, ISBLANK returns TRUE. If a cell contains any value, I

EXCEL

=ISBLANK(A1) // returns TRUE

Example 2

If cell A1 contains any value or any formula, the ISBLANK function will return FALSE:

EXCEL

=ISBLANK(A1) // returns false

Example - test if cells are empty

In the worksheet below, the ISBLANK function is used to test if cells in column B are empty. The formula in cell C5 is:

EXCEL

=ISBLANK(B5)

Example - Is not empty

To reverse the logic and test for cells that are not blank (not empty) you can nest ISBLANK inside the NOT function like this:

EXCEL

=NOT(ISBLANK(A1)) // test not blank

Example - Is not empty

You can see this approach in the worksheet below. The formula in cell C5 is:

EXCEL

=NOT(ISBLANK(B5))

Example - If a date is blank

A classic example of the ISBLANK function is to test if a cell is empty and display a custom message if so. The worksheet below contains a list of tas

EXCEL

=IF(ISBLANK(D5),"Open","")

ISBLANK

Syntax

Arguments

Return Value

Details

Examples

See Also