Reputation: 211

Find first non-blank cell in a range

I am working with a list of data where one or multiple cells in a row can be blank.

Lets say the list is cells A1, A2, A3, A4. I am trying to create a function that will do the following:

IF A1 has a value I want the cell to return A1.
  IF A1 is empty then I want it to return A2.
   IF A1 and A2 are both empty I want it to return A3.
    If A1, A2 and A3 are all empty I want it to return A4.

Upvotes: 21

Answers (5)

Vincent De Smet

Reputation: 4979

first result on google: http://chandoo.org/wp/2014/01/15/find-first-non-blank-item-in-a-list-excel-formulas/

This formula returns the first TEXT cell for a range B1:B100:

=VLOOKUP("*", B1:B100, 1,FALSE)

* is a wild card in Excel. When you ask VLOOKUP to find *, it finds the first cell that contains anything.

NOTE: This approach finds first cell that contains any TEXT. So if the first non-blank cell is a number (or date, % or Boolean value), the formula shows next cell that contains text.

If you need to find non-blank that url gives the following solution:

If you want to find first non-blank value, whether it is text or number, then you can use below array formula.

=INDEX(B1:B100, MATCH(FALSE, ISBLANK(B1:B100), 0))

Make sure you press CTRL+Shift+Enter after typing this formula.

How this formula works?

ISBLANK(B1:B100) portion: This gives us list of TRUE / FALSE values depending on the 98 cells in B1:B100 are blank or not. It looks like this: {TRUE;TRUE;TRUE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE; ...}

MATCH(FALSE, ISBLANK(…), 0) portion: Once we have the TRUE / FALSE values, we just need to find the first FALSE value (ie, first non-blank cell). That is what this MATCH function does. It finds an exact match of FALSE value in the list.

INDEX(B1:B100, MATCH(…)) portion: Once we know which cell is the first non-blank cell, we need its value. That is what INDEX does.

Upvotes: 24

pnuts

Reputation: 59475

Select ColumnA:

HOME > Editing > Find & Select > Go To Special... > Blanks, OK, =, ↓, Ctrl+Enter.

Upvotes: 2

Shankar ARUL

Reputation: 13710

This did the trick for me

=LOOKUP(2,1/(A1:A13<>""),A1:A13)

Source credit: here

Upvotes: 1

Kevin

Reputation: 11

You can just put a rank.eq formula in the column next to it, and do a vlookup to bring all of your data to the top. This will bring all of your data to the top.

For example, in the image below I am ranking using the percentage, I want to bring the cells with data to the top for presentation, I will hide all columns other than where my vlookups are.

Upvotes: 1

Vincent De Smet

Reputation: 4979

As indicated in your comment on your question, you have 500 rows interspersed with blank cells. You want to fill blank cells with the value of the last non blank cell.

I'd write some VBA code that'd work as follows: select the range of cells you want to back fill and run this VBA:

Sub fillBlanks()
  For Each c In Selection.Cells
    If c.Value <> "" Then
      lastVal = c.Value
    Else
      c.Value = lastVal
    End If
  Next c
End Sub

basically, if the cell is empty, use the value of the last non blank cell (if there were no blank cells above, it will remain blank). Else, if the cell is not empty, save this as the last non blank cell. Repeat for every cell in the selected range.

Step by Step instructions on using this vba code - for this sample worksheet:

sample worksheet