On google spreadsheet, how to identify all cells containing a word whom first cell is capitalized ?
Terrible Q (no research shown, unclear, inconsistent, poor capitalisation, no sample data, bad grammar) but, perhaps, a very easy solution. Select all cells and apply a CF formula rule of:
=regexmatch(A1,"\b[A-Z]")
Related
I'm trying to get an ARRAYFORMULA to subtract the current cell from the previous one,
but it appears that if I write
=ARRAYFORMULA((A3:A)-(A2))
The formula does not increase of one cell as it expands.
here's an example of what I get
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ci4kiNCgjBZK0Ue218IRIk5t8tSmElF5EgbIxb1_Q9w/edit?usp=sharing
it's clear that it keeps referencing A2 (but I'm not using $A$2 in the formula)
if I wouldn't use ARRAYFORMULA I would simply use
=SUM(A3-A2)
Can anyone suggest me a solution?
Your sample spreadsheet is still "View only"; so neither I nor anyone else can directly leave our solutions. However, place the following formula in D1:
=ArrayFormula({"Difference"; IF(A2:A="",,IFERROR(A2:A-OFFSET(A2:A,-1,0)))})
This will create the header (which you can change within the formula itself as you like) and all results.
(Adjusting to the location in your actual spreadsheet, as indicated in your post, this would be =ArrayFormula({"Difference";IF(L7:L="",,IFERROR(L7:L-OFFSET(L7:L,-1,0)))}).)
Couple Comments
You should accept Erik Tyler's answer as he put in more work and helped you present your problem more clearly. However these formulas allow for some more flexibility if you want any values below the rows (which now that I think about it doesn't make a lot of sense based on having a dynamic array flowing down, but conceptually maybe someone will find it useful).
Simple Formula will require one cell below your range to be blank:
=iferror(filter(filter(N(A2:A),A2:A<>"")-N(A1:A),A1:A<>""),"")
Complex Formula will allow values directly below (which I again admit seems nonsensical considering the whole point of this is a dynamic expansion down rows...)
=Filter(filter(filter(N(A2:A),A2:A<>"")-N(A1:A),A1:A<>""),ISNUMBER(filter(filter(N(A2:A),A2:A<>"")-N(A1:A),A1:A<>"")))
I gave a demo on your page.
This has been an issue I've lived with for a really long time, without ever really figuring out a reasonable solution. I feel like there must be one, however.
I do a lot of spreadsheet preparation for non-technical users. In my current situation, it involves a selection committee that needs to view candidates' submissions. The problem is, each candidate's responses vary quite a bit in length and size. I am using very basic VLOOKUP's to populate a series of columns so that when a given applicant is chosen from a dropdown menu.
Here is the dilemma, to me it feels like there must be a way to view the entire content of a vlookup result WITHOUT having to change row/column width/height to "fit to data" or some arbitrary huge number. For normal text boxes that get cut off, you can just double click the cell, and it neatly displays the entire text content for you. When I try to do this with a vlookup formula, double-clicking just displays the vlookup formula itself. The only way around this I've found is copying the cell, then doing paste-special and choosing "value only". But doing this destroys the vlookup formula, requiring a quick control-Z to undo afterwards -- something fine for me, but not something I can't reliably ask my end users to know to do.
Put succinctly, is there no other way to display/access the entire text content of a cell that is cutoff, if the content is the result of a v or hlookup formula? A way, that is, without value pasting over the formula, or having to adjust the column width and/or choose 'wrap text' and changing the row height?
I was hoping there might be some way to get the contents of the vlookup to appear in something like a tooltip popup if you hover over the cell? Or some other solution.
move your vlookup formula up a row like if its now in B2 and the output of vlookup is 1 column put this in B1:
={""; ARRAYFORMULA(IFNA(VLOOKUP(...)))}
So I have created an invoice spreadsheet in Google Sheets and have used merged cells extensively in order to create a cleaner look for the invoice.
Here is the problem that I am having: sometimes, my simple subtraction formula does not give me a correct result. The formula is supposed to subtract the Unsold balance (cell V27) from the Beginning Balance (cell R27).
Again, there is nothing wrong with the formula itself, as it works correctly 99% of the time, but every now and then, it just gives me an answer matching the Beginning Balance.
Also here is a link to a copy of the spreadsheet for anyone willing to take a look. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf_QE-u36mo4AKyqg7Dk11gwoR0p5g0qveIazR83Xbk/edit?usp=sharing
Has anyone else ever had this situation happen to them? What could possibly be causing it, and more importantly, how can it be fixed to be more reliable?
Those of us who work professionally developing Sheets solutions have a few basic rules that we follow and encourage others not to break. Among them is "Never merge cells anywhere that calculations or comparisons will be (or ever might be) performed or assessed."
While what you're seeing might seem to be a glitch, I wouldn't call it that. Merged cells don't really get rid of the cells you don't see. For instance, your cell R27 doesn't "get rid of" cells S27, T27 and U27. It just holds them in memory, presumably empty. But remember that, inside Sheets' "memory," it doesn't "see" a grid. It's just 1's and 0's. When a grid is new and no cells are merged, Sheets "finds" each cell (using the best analogy I can give) counting over and down by 1's and 0's that are very small and tightly packed. Hold that thought...
Also note that many people are surprised when they have multiple complex calculations going on and get a returned answer that is off from what they expect in a cell further down the calculation chain. This is because Sheets uses floating decimal points. For instance, "one divided by three" is about 0.333. But in reality, that extends very far out: 0.33333333333333333333. But that can't go on forever or Sheets wouldn't be able to run. So at some point it gets truncated. Eventually, those extra decimal-extras will start to add up and bump numbers up (or down) by small degrees. All of this is handled by the same 1's and 0's that run everything else.
Back to merged cells. Finding and accurately "reading" merged cells gets less accurate the more of them you merge, because the process is relative to other cell locations in memory. After a while, the "floating decimal point" nature of Sheets starts to lose track, especially (I've observed) if you've got merged cells using the same sort of relative formula reference that you're using (e.g., a lot of your stacked merged cells are referencing yet another merged cell: BB2. So (again by analogy), Sheets is trying to "guess where it is by using clues." Perhaps it found something correctly in merged cells Z-AA-AB-AC23 that referenced merged cells BB2-BB3-BC2-BC3; but that time, you asked it to add merged cells R-S-T-U23 and V-W-X-Y23 and subtract merged cells V-W-X-Y24 ... where in the following set of merged cells, Z-AA-AB-AC24, you still asked for the BB2-BB3-BC2-BC3 reference but not the V-W-X-Y24 subtraction. And so on...
To add to this, you've got row heights changed all over the place. Some are set to specific heights, while others are fit to data.
You get the picture.
If Sheets is trying to find things by moving over and down from cell A1, but there is no regularity, sometimes, it just throws it's hands up and says, "Where the h-double-hockey-sticks am I anymore?" When you then reload the sheet or delete and replace the formula, it starts out at A1 again and plays Chutes and Ladders on the broken board and might shift one "floating" teeny-weeny 1 or 0 a different way from last time... and find what you wanted it to find again.
You also-also wind up with a sheet that is 56 columns across, when you probably only needed it to be 12 or 15. Likewise, you've extended the number of rows beyond what it needed to be. So you're slowing down your processing by a lot.
THE SHORT VERSION:
As nice as merged cells might look, they are a computing nightmare. I've been working with spreadsheets since they were invented, and I've literally never had a need for merged cells (though I've occasionally used them in areas that are purely aesthetic).
THE SOLUTIONS:
1.) Remake the sheet without merged cells.
-or-
2.) Try encompassing all of the merged-but-hidden cells in your calculations. This at least gives Sheets a wider net to cast. For instance, in your example above, you reference this formula:
=IF($BB$2<>"Rental","",R27-V27)
Try (where possible) to include the whole range you merged:
=IF($BB$2<>"Rental", "", SUM(R27:U27) - SUM(V27:Y27) )
Technically, you could also include all cells in the BB2-BB3-BC2-BC3 merge:
=IF(AND($BB$2<>"Rental", $BB$3<>"Rental", $BC$2<>"Rental", $BC$3<>"Rental"), "", SUM(R27:U27) - SUM(V27:Y27) )
However, try the shorter route with just the SUMmed merged ranges and see if it holds up. If so, stick with that. If not, go with referencing every cell in ranges you merged.
You've clearly put a lot of work into setting up this sheet. So I'm sure this isn't the easy answer you were hoping to hear. But I hope it does give you some direction for next steps.
For me, the simplest solution is to lock-reference the uppermost cell of the merged cells.
Instead of referencing in the top formula as B2, reference as $B$2. This way, your formulas in other cells will reference the same value as required.
USE LOCK-REFERENCING:
$B$2
I use Arrayformula() to make my reports dynamic and easier to edit. For example, if I have a Column A with a list o number o blue balls in a set and a Column B with a list red balls in a set, on the cell C1 I can write =ArrayFormula(add(A1:A,B1:B)) and in the Column C will have the total of balls in each set. It would be exactly the same as writing =A1+B1 in cell C1 and dragging the formula down to the last row. Arrayformula() has some benefits, because it will work if some adds or removes rows from the sheet and also it makes the reports way more organized and easier to edit.
Since I´ve discovered arrayformula(), my life has changed, because of the fact that googleSheets expands the formula to other cells. It does not work every time, but the idea of expanding to other cells seems to be possible some way or another, here is a good example of a problem that was not resolved by arrayformula(), but has the same idea.
Keeping that idea in mind, imagine that on Column A there is a list of First Names and on Column B there is a list of Last names. On Column C I want to join this two string using a simples space. The way to do that would be in the cell C1 write =join(" ",A1,B1) and then drag down this formula. This method method however is prone to error since people can add and remove rows, deleting my formula. I want to use a formula that I can write in one single cell and it expands to other cells. I´ve tried =arrayformula(join(" ",A1:A,B1:B)), but it does not work.
Is that a way to do that using =arrayformula() or other native function?
I know I could write a script or custom formula to do that, but this is not my goal here.
I think this formula should work:
=arrayformula(A1:A&" "&B1:B)
In case you want to use a delimiter, you can do the following to have a clean result even though, A or B is not present in some cases:
ARRAYFORMULA(ifna(ifs(isblank(A1:A),,ISBLANK(B1:B),A1:A),A1:A&" - "&B1:B))
The trouble is when I scan something with the barcode scanner, there is always weird first character. I'd like to remove it somehow automatically as I scan the barcode on google spreadsheets. I was thinking as it scans, an adjacent cell will copy the data minus the first character.
Any Ideas? How would I write the formula in the adjacent cell?
It might have been better to post this question on Web Applications but, assuming your data is in A2:
=mid(A2,2,len(A2))
and copied down to suit should work.
You could also try this:
=REGEXEXTRACT(A1,".(.*)")
The first period, outside the capture group represents a single character of any kind, and the capture group catches everything after it