SIGN

Excel Functions

Get the sign of a number

Syntax

EXCEL

=SIGN(number)

Arguments

Parameter	Description
`number`	The number to get the sign of.

Return Value

One if positive. Negative one if negative. Zero if zero.

Details

The SIGN function returns the sign of a number as +1, -1 or 0. If number is positive, SIGN returns 1. If number is negative, sign returns -1. If number is zero, SIGN returns 0. The SIGN function takes one argument, number, which must be a numeric value. If number is not numeric, SIGN returns a #VALUE! error. SIGN can be used to change negative numbers into positive values like this. For example, with -3 in cell A1, the formula below returns 3: The formula above has no effect on positive numbers, since SIGN will return 1. However, the ABS function provides a simpler solution:

Examples

EXCEL

=SIGN(5) // returns 1
=SIGN(-3) // returns -1
=SIGN(0) // returns 0

Examples

SIGN can be used to change negative numbers into positive values like this. For example, with -3 in cell A1, the formula below returns 3:

EXCEL

=A1*SIGN(A1)
=-3*-1
=3

Examples

The formula above has no effect on positive numbers, since SIGN will return 1. However, the ABS function provides a simpler solution:

EXCEL

=ABS(A1) // absolute value of A1