I have a Google Form linked to a Google Sheet. It has a number of questions with responses that I need grouped into specific columns. I also need to keep the columns in the order they're in.
I was working with a formula someone helped me with to do one single range:
=ARRAYFORMULA({"Job Responsibilities";IF(A2:A="",,TRIM(TRANSPOSE(QUERY(TRANSPOSE(K2:V),,100))))})
In Columns H, I, J, it will gather the data in the cells within specified ranges and concatenate them for easier reading at a glance.
I was hoping to find a way to separate the different entries with a comma so that the different values could be picked out easier.
Is there an extra function I can add to my formula in order to separate values with a comma?
Try this slight change.
=ARRAYFORMULA({"Job Responsibilities";IF(A2:A="",,SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(TRANSPOSE(QUERY(TRANSPOSE(K2:V&CHAR(10)),,100))),CHAR(10),","))})
Related
Using names listed in 1 column, I need to redisplay the same list of names in several sheets to filter info and add more info. It's a very complicated Google Sheet, otherwise I'd share it. I thought I'd make a model sheet, but the model sheet is doing exactly what I want:
model works wonderfully
=TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(JOIN("---",FILTER(A2:A,ISTEXT(A2:A))),"-",TRUE,FALSE))
Column C is the original problem, which seeks out the first, fourth, seventh etc. because the resulting fields are merged at those points.
Column D is the attempted solution, which takes all the fields, adds buffer punctuation between each ("-"), and then splits them transposed.
I tried the exact same equation in my convoluted sheet, but the original problem is still there:
actual references other sheet data and does not work
=TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(JOIN("---",FILTER('REHEARSAL ATTENDANCE'!B4:B,ISTEXT('REHEARSAL ATTENDANCE'!B4:B))),"-",TRUE,FALSE))
Is there a reason why it doesn't work?? I need them spaced out.
Solution:
Since your entries are spaced five cells apart instead of three in the model, you would need five dashes / repetitions as well.
=TRANSPOSE(SPLIT(JOIN("-----",FILTER('REHEARSAL ATTENDANCE'!B4:B,ISTEXT('REHEARSAL ATTENDANCE'!B4:B))),"-",TRUE,FALSE))
I want to iterate over an array of cells, in this case B5:B32, and keep the values that are equal to some reference text in a new array.
However, SPLIT nowadays accepts arrays as inputs. That means that if I use the array notation of "B5:B32" within ARRAYFORMULA or FILTER, it treats it as a range, rather than the array over which we iterate one cell at a time.
Is there a way to ensure that a particular range is the range over which we iterate, rather than the range given at once as an input?
What I considered was using alternative formulations of a cell, using INDEX(ROW(B5), COLUMN(B5)) but ROW and COLUMN also accept array values, so I'm out of ideas on how to proceed.
Example code:
ARRAYFORMULA(
INDEX(
SPLIT(B5:B32, " ", 1), 1
) = "Some text here"
)
Example sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H8vQqD5DFxIS-d_nBxpuwoRH34WfKIYGP9xKKLvCFkA/edit?usp=sharing
Note: In the example sheet, I can get to my desired answer if I create separate columns containing the results of the SPLIT formula. This way, I first do the desired SPLITS, and then take the values I need from that output by specifying the correct range.
Is there a way to do this without first creating an output and then taking a cell range as an input to FILTER or other similar functions?
For example in cell C35 I've already gotten the desired SPLIT and FILTER done in one go, but I'd still need to find a way to sum up the values of the first character of the second column. Doing this requires that I take the LEFT value of the second column, but for that I need to output the results and continue in a new cell. Is there a way to avoid this?
Ralph, I'm not sure if your sample sheet really reflects what you are trying to end up with, since, for example, I assume you are likely to want the total of the hours per area.
In any case, this formula extracts all of the areas, and the hours worked, and is then easy to do further calculations with.
=ArrayFormula({REGEXEXTRACT({C5:C9;D5:D9;E5:E9;F5:F9;G5:G9;H5:H9},"(.*) \d"),
VALUE(REGEXEXTRACT({C5:C9;D5:D9;E5:E9;F5:F9;G5:G9;H5:H9}," (\d+)hrs"))})
Try that in cell E13, to see the output.
The first REGEXEXTRACT pulls out all the text in front of the first space and number, and the second pulls out all the digits in a string of " #hr" in each cell. These criteria could be modified, if necessary, depending on your actual requirements. Note that it requires the use of VALUE, to convert the hours from text to numeric values, since REGEXEXTRACT produces text (string) results.
It involved concatenating your multiple data columns into one long column of data, to make it simpler to process all the cells in the same way.
This next formula will give you a sum, for whatever matching room/task you type into B6, as an example.
=ArrayFormula(QUERY({REGEXEXTRACT({C5:C9;D5:D9;E5:E9;F5:F9;G5:G9;H5:H9},"(.*) \d"),
VALUE(REGEXEXTRACT({C5:C9;D5:D9;E5:E9;F5:F9;G5:G9;H5:H9}," (\d+)hrs"))},
"select Col1, sum(Col2) where Col1='"&B6&"' group by Col1 label sum(Col2) '' ",0))
I will also answer my own question given what I know from kirkg13's answer and other sources.
Short answer: no, there isn't. If you want to do really convoluted computations with particular cell values, there are a few options and tips:
Script your own functions. You can expand INDEX to accept array inputs and thereby you can select any set of values from an array without outputting it first. Example that doesn't use REGEXMATCH and QUERY to get the SUM of hours in the question's example data set: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NljC-pK_Y4iYwNCWgum8B4NJioyNJKYZ86BsUX6R27Y/edit?usp=sharing.
Use QUERY. This makes your formula more convoluted quite quickly, but is still a readable and universally applicable method of selecting data, for example particular columns. In the question's initial example, QUERY can retrieve only the second column just like an adapted INDEX function would.
Format your input data more effectively. The more easily you can get numbers from your input, the less you have to obfuscate your code with REGEXMATCHES and QUERY's to do computations. Doing a SUM over a RANGE is a lot more compact of a formula than doing a VALUE of a LEFT of a QUERY of an ARRAYFORMULA of a SPLIT of a FILTER. Of course, this will depend on where you get your inputs from and if you have any say in this.
Also, depending on how many queries you will run on a given data set, it may actually be desirable to split up the formula into separate parts and output partial results to keep the code from becoming an amalgamation of 12 different queries and formulas. If the results don't need to be viewed by people, you can always choose to hide specific columns and rows.
Reference/test sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fp6ZTBtgb5E0J9GKOqh8Ae47OzY1smec5ha9BfUfAsY/edit?usp=sharing
I have a Google Sheets document with one sheet (calculator) that pulls some values from another sheet (database). database is organized by two columns: make, and model. I use some weird data validation and helper columns to make dropdowns in calculator. Then I use filter() to pull the matching value from database.
This all works fine but it will be a calculator that gets reused and the data discarded, so I need only a finite number of rows in calculator (10-20). For this, it would be super nice to be able to select the whole row and hit delete to clear the calculation without destroying all the formulas. Ideally, the filter() would happen inside an arrayformula() in a hidden and protected top row to allow the rows to be easily cleared.
For some reason though, I can't get that to work. vlookup() is not an option because I need to match two keys.
On another note, it would be nice to not need the helper columns B:J and the data validation unique to each row. This is workable though as I only need a few rows. In the actual version I hide and protect B:J and there are many more columns there.
I know you said Vlookup() wouldn't work because you need to match on two keys, I think that vlookup() will help in this situation. Try this formula...
=arrayformula(Vlookup(A3:A&K3:K,{database!A$2:A&database!B$2:B,database!C$2:C},2,False))
The concept here is to put those two matches you need into one unique key. So we use the curly brackets {} to build an array within the formula and combine those two lookup fields in your 'database' sheet. So the columns of A and B become concatenated into one element, and the second part of that array is the column C which you need.
To lookup then just combines your A&K columns similarly, so it can lookup that combined element. The rest of the vlookup follows as normal. I.e. we look up this concatenation against that one and when it matches it returns the second column of the array we built, in this case database!C.
I don't think I'm clear on your columns B:J, so I'm not sure if this helps you with that as well.
You can't get rid of the helper column approach, as long as you want the calculator to use drop down selection for the model. Data validation for dropdowns requires either a list of values, ie. static, so no good, or a range of cells.
What you might want to do is to put those cells in a totally separate tab, eg. DataValidation, and then hide that tab. Your Calculator sheet will then be cleaner, with no hidden columns. Column K will use for data validation the "hidden" values, formerly columns B:J, that are now built off in the DataValidation tab.
I've been using Arrayformula to auto-expand formulas (such as "=Left(A2:A,B2:B-1") downward, but I need some help understanding this formula. I've read up on the function itself and browsed many forums about this but I can only find articles explaining how to use this with simple formulas, so I'm going to try to as this as simply as possible here: Is it possible to use Arrayformula to expand formulas downward when the formula uses arrays?
The summary for Arrayformula reads "Enables the display of values returned from an array formula into multiple rows and/or columns and the use of non-array functions with arrays." This was my understanding of how Arrayformula populated a formula into rows automatically. Using this I thought of it as writing a formula that generated an array of formulas, and then splitting them up with Arrayformula. This seems to not work with some formulas such as concatenate, which I will focus my question on. This example is far from my real life problem, but if someone could show me a solution I can apply it elsewhere.
Arrayformula spreadsheet example
Usually when I use Arrayformula with A1:A it would expand the formula through the column, referencing the corresponding rows as it went. With this example I want to have Column C be the concatenated result of columns A and B. Is this possible with Arrayformula? This question is not specific to concatenate, that is just the simplest one that came to mind. Another example would be Countif. Lets say I want to see how many values in the first 5 columns are over 20, and I want that formula to auto populate down, is that possible and if so how would it be done?
Arrayformula second example
P.S. Please don't say copy the formula using the drag handle in the lower right.
I'm trying to do a couple of different things with a spreadsheet in Google and running into some problems with the formulas I am using. I'm hoping someone might be able to direct me to a better solution or be able to correct the current issue I'm having.
First off all, here is a view of the data on Sheet 1 that I am pulling from:
Example Spreadsheet
The first task I'm trying to accomplish is to create a sheet that lists all of these shift days with the date in one column and the subject ("P: Ben" or S: Nicole") in another column. This sheet would be used to import the data via a CSV into our calendar system each month. I tried doing an Index-Match where it used the date to pull the associated values however I found that I had to keep adjusting the formula offsets in order to capture new information. It doesn't seem like Index-Match works when multiple rows/columns are involved. Is there a better way to pull this information?
The second task I am trying to accomplish is to create a new tab which lists all the dates a specific person is assigned too (that way this tab will update in real time and everyone can just look at their own sheet to see what days they are on-call). However, I run into the same problem here because for each new row I have to change the formula to reflect the correct information otherwise it doesn't pull the correct cell when it finds a match.
I would appreciate any and all information/advice on how to accomplish these tasks with the formula combination I mentioned or suggestions on other formulas to use that I have not been able to find.
Thanks in advance!
Brandon. There are a few ways to attack your tasks, but looking at the structure of your data, I would use curly brackets {} to create arrays. Here is an excerpt of how Google explains arrays in Sheets:
You can also create your own arrays in a formula in your spreadsheet
by using brackets { }. The brackets allow you to group together
values, while you use the following punctuation to determine which
order the values are displayed in:
Commas: Separate columns to help you write a row of data in an array.
For example, ={1, 2} would place the number 1 in the first cell and
the number 2 in the cell to the right in a new column.
Semicolons: Separate rows to help you write a column of data in an array. For
example, ={1; 2} would place the number 1 in the first cell and the
number 2 in the cell below in a new row.
Note: For countries that use
commas as decimal separators (for example €1,00), commas would be
replaced by backslashes () when creating arrays.
You can join multiple ranges into one continuous range using this same
punctuation. For example, to combine values from A1-A10 with the
values from D1-D10, you can use the following formula to create a
range in a continuous column: ={A1:A10; D1:D10}
Knowing that, here's a sample sheet of your data.
First Task:
create a sheet that lists all of these shift days with the date in one
column and the subject ("P: Ben" or S: Nicole") in another column.
To organize dates and subjects into discrete arrays, we'll collect them using curly brackets...
Dates: {A3:G3,A7:G7,A11:G11,A15:G15}
Subjects: {A4:G4,A5:G5,A8:G8,A9:G9,A12:G12,A13:G13,A16:G16,A17:G17}
This actually produces two rows rather than columns, but we'll deal with that in a minute. You'll note that, because there are two subjects per every one date, we need to effectively double each date captured.
Dates: {A3:G3,A3:G3,A7:G7,A7:G7,A11:G11,A11:G11,A15:G15,A15:G15}
Subjects: {A4:G4,A5:G5,A8:G8,A9:G9,A12:G12,A13:G13,A16:G16,A17:G17}
Still with me? If so, all that's left is to (a) turn these two rows into two columns using the TRANSPOSE function, (b) combine our two columns using another pair of curly brackets and a semicolon and (c) add a SORT function to list the dates in chronological order...
=SORT(TRANSPOSE({{A3:G3,A3:G3,A7:G7,A7:G7,A11:G11,A11:G11,A15:G15,A15:G15};{A4:G4,A5:G5,A8:G8,A9:G9,A12:G12,A13:G13,A16:G16,A17:G17}}),1,TRUE)
Second Task:
create a new tab which lists all the dates a specific person is
assigned too (that way this tab will update in real time and everyone
can just look at their own sheet to see what days they are on-call).
Assuming the two-column array we just created lives in A2:B53 on a new sheet called "Shifts," then we can use the FILTER function and SEARCH based on each name. The formula at the top of Ben's sheet would look like this:
=FILTER(Shifts!A2:B53,SEARCH("Ben",Shifts!B2:B53))
Hopefully this helps, but please let me know if I've misinterpreted anything. Cheers.