Obtain the value of function now() in Google spredsheet - google-sheets

In Google script sheet, in cell A1 I input the function now() and returns current time (e.g. 13:00). I want to fix the value. But if I make any change in the cell, the value will be changed. What I can do is to copy cell A1 and selective paste value in cell B1 and then change the format of B1 as time. Is there any function that can obtain the value in A1 and fix it in another cell?
Many thanks!

Another question I don't understand but perhaps:
select the another cell
key Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
If I have misunderstood, perhaps Google Docs time stamp? from Web Apps may be hepful.

Related

Google spreadsheet change a cell depending on what is written on another cell

In a cell I have a list of locations made with data validation. Example Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest.
next to the cell I have formula that i have to change manually if i change the cell with the location, EX: =index( Budapest!I:I; max(if(Budapest!B:B=E127; row(Budapest!B:B)))), =index( Belgrade!I:I; max(if(Belgrade!B:B=E127; row(Belgrade!B:B))))...etc
Is it a way to change automatically the formula, for ex if I select the city Budapest the formula to change to Budapest.
I have tried: =if(F127="Budapest"index( Budapest!I:I; max(if(Budapest!B:B=E127; row(Budapest!B:B))))) if(f127="Belgrade"index(Belgrade!F:F; max(if(Belgrade!B:B=E127; row(Belgrade!B:B)))))
if A1 = Bucharest (or whatever else) use:
=INDEX(INDIRECT(A1&"!I:I"); MAX(IF(INDIRECT(A1&"!B:B")=E127; ROW(INDIRECT(A1&"!B:B")))))
Depending on where the input data is will determine what the best formula to use it. But to be vague, the answer is yes. It will most likely require you to use a formula that pulls data and instead of the putting in a location of where to pull from, put a cell reference. Some formulas wont let you use a cell’s contents to reference a location. In that case you can concatenate the string from a cell into the formula. Here is an example of concatenation within a formula that does not allow cell references (query select where).
=QUERY('tab1'!$A$4:$R, "select * where A = '"&$C$5&"'")
It pulls all data where column A matches whatever value is typed into cell C5.
I understand this formula does not match your data but it provides an explanation of the mechanism of how to do so. I hope it helps. If not, please provide an example sheet and I can create a specific formula for your situation.

Appending dynamic values to cell in google sheets

I have a cell (G7) that is dynamically linked to a website with importHTML, and it has number that is updated periodically. Is there a way to store the current value of that dynamic cell and add it to another cell, and the keep doing that every time it changes?
Cell G7 is my dynamic number and Cell E2 where I want to keep appending changes to G7. So if right now G7 is $16.28, I want to store that in E2, and then let’s say a few months from now G7 updates to $14.5, then I want it to add $14.5 to the $16.28 in cell E2 rather than replace it. So the new number upon updating G7 should be $30.78. Would I have to make another tab and store each iteration of G7 into a list and add them together with SUM in E2? How can I store the number in G7 when certain conditions are met use dates from cells C7, H7, and I7 automatically?
An example of a date condition being if C7<= H7, and I7 is equal to Today's date then append this number from G7 to E7.
Is there another way of doing this without making a history list in another sheet? In a scripting language I think this would be written as E2+=G7. While G7 is constantly changing it is being appended to E2.
Here is a Demo I made of the sheet im working on.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Wk1kMGeZuVEcSdsnXnGIzdwPHLqYKoyqlD1yYcGXxXs/edit?usp=sharing
Simple Trigger onEdit(e) runs when a user changes a value in a spreadsheet
The onEdit event trigger has an object passed by parameter that you can use depending on the Google Product used, for instance, Spreadsheet events, where the e.source object represents the Google Sheets file to which the script is bound.
For example:
function onEdit(e){
// Set a comment on the edited cell to indicate when it was changed.
var range = e.range;
range.setNote('Last modified: ' + new Date());
}
By having the code above, when a change is made to a single cell, this code runs and sets a note every time the cell is changed/saved.

Concatenate merged cells with Google Sheets

I have this situation on Google Sheets:
I want to concatenate (=A2&B2) with a merged cell, but only the first cell has a value. I want to get the values of the column "Expected results". How I can detect the first value of each work office in this example?
You can use INDEX/AGGREGATE:
=INDEX($A$1:$A$9,AGGREGATE(14,4,(ISBLANK($A$1:$A$9)=FALSE)*(ROW($A$1:$A$9)<=ROW())*ROW($A$1:$A$9),1)) & B2
Edit for google sheets:
=INDEX($A$1:$A$9,LARGE((ISBLANK($A$1:$A$9)=FALSE)*(ROW($A$1:$A$9)<=ROW())*ROW($A$1:$A$9),1)) & B2
When merging a cell, the content appears only as if it were if the first cell of that block. Hence, you need to only use that first value as your reference. For this you need to block the reference, and it would look like this:
=($A$1&B2)
You can check more information about that in this link.
Try this in D2:
=ARRAYFORMULA(IF(B2:B="",,VLOOKUP(ROW(A2:A),FILTER({ROW(A2:A),A2:A},A2:A<>""),2)&B2:B))

How to make google sheet formula just calculate once?

I have 3 rows in my Google sheet, that is stock, price, and total. so, I just use "multiple" formula for stock and price then put the value into the total row. but I don't want total row get an update or change the value whenever I change stock value.
Can someone help me?
Assuming you want cell A1 to only calculate its value once, you can put the following in cell A1. This tells the cell to just use its existing value if there is one (and it's not 0), otherwise run the formula.
=IF(A1<>0, A1, formula())
Since the cell is referencing itself, you will need to enable iterative calculation in File > Spreadsheet settings > Calculation.
I use something like the following for historical Google Finance data, since the value is never going to change, and sometimes Google Finance randomly returns an error. This will only run the GOOGLEFINANCE() formula until it returns a non-zero value without erroring.
=IF(IFERROR(A1)<>0, A1, GOOGLEFINANCE(...))
Google Sheets is not build to operate in such a manner. The most simple and fastest solution is to calculate what you need and then use CTRL + C and repaste with CTRL + SHIFT + V
use the copy paste value option per https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/google-sheets-convert-formulas-values/
Initially I was going with Grayson's solution, but this
=IF(IFERROR(A1)<>0, A1, GOOGLEFINANCE(...))
Places a FALSE on the cell until the result is placed.
I needed that to be empty, i.e. "" as whatever different from that (cell <>"") would trigger another cell to do another query/request.
I also needed the formula to be run depending on the trigger (the url in another cell). In this formula, if the trigger is placed after the formula has run, it won't trigger it.
So I have something like
=IF(AND(IFERROR(E53)<>0,E53<>""),E53, if(D53<>"",IMPORTDATA(D53),""))
<Update 2022-11>
While using this in arrayformula I noticed something that could be wrong.
IFERROR(E53)<>0 # Doesn't make sense.
It should be
NOT(ISERROR(E53))
And the whole thing in arrayformula (careful with AND/OR )
=ARRAYFORMULA( IF( NOT(ISERROR(E2:E)) * (E2:E<>"") ,E2:E, 'SOMETHING ELSE' ) )
I leave both versions in case someone spots errors in any of them.
<End of update 2022-11>
Explanation (It took me a while to understand it, so I could extend it):
D53 = myself
If I am nothing ("") or I am in Error (importdata not yet completed)
then
I am the result of -> If(D53<>"",IMPORTDATA(D53),"")
Which is:
If the cell before me is something different from "", run the importdata
with that cell as url, otherwise I am "" (nothing)
This achieves the goal of running the formula only once if the trigger is valid (the url on the cell before is there). Once the result is placed, it won't change.
If for whatever reason you need it to run again, you have to remove the formula and place it again.
Notes: If cellX has the result of an external fetch (IMPORTDATA for example) and on cellY=cellX, while on cellX you see "Loading ..." on cellY you will see a 0 (zero). I believe that explains why the other solution was comparing with 0.

Is there a Google Sheets formula to put the name of the sheet into a cell?

The following illustration should help:
Here is what I found for Google Sheets:
To get the current sheet name in Google sheets, the following simple script can help you without entering the name manually, please do as this:
Click Tools > Script editor
In the opened project window, copy and paste the below script code into the blank Code window, see screenshot:
......................
function sheetName() {
return SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet().getName();
}
Then save the code window, and go back to the sheet that you want to get its name, then enter this formula: =sheetName() in a cell, and press Enter key, the sheet name will be displayed at once.
See this link with added screenshots: https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/5222-google-sheets-get-list-of-sheets.html
You have 2 options, and I am not sure if I am a fan of either of them, but that is my opinion. You may feel differently:
Option 1: Force the function to run.
A function in a cell does not run unless it references a cell that has changed. Changing a sheet name does not trigger any functions in the spreadsheet. But we can force the function to run by passing a range to it and whenever an item in that range changes, the function will trigger.
You can use the below script to create a custom function which will retrieve the name:
function mySheetName() {
var key = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet().getName();
return key;
}
and in the cell place the following:
=mySheetName(A1:Z)
Now if any value in a cell in that passed range changes the script will run. This takes a second to run the script and sets a message in the cell each time any value is changed so this could become annoying very quickly. As already mentioned, it also requires a change in the range to cause it to trigger, so not really helpful on a fairly static file.
Option 2: Use the OnChange Event
While the run time feels better than the above option, and this does not depend on a value changing in the spreadsheet's cells, I do not like this because it forces where the name goes. You could use a Utilities sheet to define this location in various sheets if you wish. Below is the basic idea and may get you started if you like this option.
The OnChange event is triggered when the sheet name is changed. You can make the code below more sophisticated to check for errors, check the sheet ID to only work on a given sheet, etc. The basic code, however, is:
function setSheetName(e) {
var key = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet().getName();
SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet().getRange('K1').setValue(key);
}
Once you have saved the code, in the script editor set the Current Project's On Change Trigger to this function. It will write the sheet name to cell K1 on any change event. To set the trigger, select Current project's triggers under the Edit menu.
If you reference the sheet from another sheet, you can get the sheet name using the CELL function. You can then use regex to extract out the sheet name.
=REGEXREPLACE(CELL("address",'SHEET NAME'!A1),"'?([^']+)'?!.*","$1")
update:
The formula will automatically update 'SHEET NAME' with future changes, but you will need to reference a cell (such as A1) on that sheet when the formula is originally entered.
Not using script:
I think I've found a stupid workaround using =cell() and a helper sheet. Thus avoiding custom functions and apps script.
=cell("address",[reference]) will provide you with a string reference (i.e. "$A$1") to the address of the cell referred to. Problem is it will not provide the sheet reference unless the cell is in a different sheet!
So:
where
This also works for named sheets. Then by all means adjust to work for your use case.
Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_iTD6if3Br6nV5Bn5vd0E0xRCKcXhJLZOQqkuSWvDtE/edit#gid=1898848593
EDIT:
I've added another workaround in the document that makes use of =formulatext() and some traditional text functions. By referencing to a cell in the current sheet using it's full address, i.e. Sheet1A1 you are able to use formulatext() to extract only the sheet name.
Here is my proposal for a script which returns the name of the sheet from its position in the sheet list in parameter. If no parameter is provided, the current sheet name is returned.
function sheetName(idx) {
if (!idx)
return SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet().getName();
else {
var sheets = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheets();
var idx = parseInt(idx);
if (isNaN(idx) || idx < 1 || sheets.length < idx)
throw "Invalid parameter (it should be a number from 0 to "+sheets.length+")";
return sheets[idx-1].getName();
}
}
You can then use it in a cell like any function
=sheetName() // display current sheet name
=sheetName(1) // display first sheet name
=sheetName(5) // display 5th sheet name
As described by other answers, you need to add this code in a script with :
Tools > Script editor
An old thread, but a useful one... so here's some additional code.
First, in response to Craig's point about the regex being overly greedy and failing for sheet names containing a single quote, this should do the trick (replace 'SHEETNAME'!A1 with your own sheet & cell reference):
=IF(TODAY()=TODAY(), SUBSTITUTE(REGEXREPLACE(CELL("address",'SHEETNAME'!A1),"'?(.+?)'?!\$.*","$1"),"''","'", ""), "")
It uses a lazy match (the ".+?") to find a character string (squotes included) that may or may not be enclosed by squotes but is definitely terminated by bang dollar ("!$") followed by any number of characters. Google Sheets actually protects squotes within a sheet name by appending another squote (as in ''), so the SUBSTITUTE is needed to reduce these back to single squotes.
The formula also allows for sheet names that contain bangs ("!"), but will fail for names using bang dollars ("!$") - if you really need to make your sheet names to look like full absolute cell references then put a separating character between the bang and the dollar (such as a space).
Note that it will only work correctly when pointed at a different sheet from the one that the formula resides! This is because CELL("address" returns just the cell reference (not the sheet name) when used on the same sheet. If you need a sheet to show its own name then put the formula in a cell on another sheet, point it at your target sheet, and then reference the formula cell from the target sheet. I often have a "Meta" sheet in my workbooks to hold settings, common values, database matching criteria, etc so that's also where I put this formula.
As others have said many times above, Google Sheets will only notice changes to the sheet name if you set the workbook's recalculation to "On change and every minute" which you can find on the File|Settings|Calculation menu. It can take up to a whole minute for the change to be picked up.
Secondly, if like me you happen to need an inter-operable formula that works on both Google Sheets and Excel (which for older versions at least doesn't have the REGEXREPLACE function), try:
=IF(IFERROR(INFO("release"), 0)=0, IF(TODAY()=TODAY(), SUBSTITUTE(REGEXREPLACE(CELL("address",'SHEETNAME'!A1),"'?(.+?)'?!\$.*","$1"),"''","'", ""), ""), MID(CELL("filename",'SHEETNAME'!A1),FIND("]",CELL("filename",'SHEETNAME'!A1))+1,255))
This uses INFO("release") to determine which platform we are on... Excel returns a number >0 whereas Google Sheets does not implement the INFO function and generates an error which the formula traps into a 0 and uses for numerical comparison. The Google code branch is as above.
For clarity and completeness, this is the Excel-only version (which does correctly return the name of the sheet it resides on):
=MID(CELL("filename",'SHEETNAME'!A1),FIND("]",CELL("filename",'SHEETNAME'!A1))+1,255)
It looks for the "]" filename terminator in the output of CELL("filename" and extracts the sheet name from the remaining part of the string using the MID function. Excel doesn't allow sheet names to contain "]" so this works for all possible sheet names. In the inter-operable version, Excel is happy to be fed a call to the non-existent REGEXREPLACE function because it never gets to execute the Google code branch.
I have a sheet that is made to used by others and I have quite a few indirect() references around, so I need to formulaically handle a changed sheet tab name.
I used the formula from JohnP2 (below) but was having trouble because it didn't update automatically when a sheet name was changed. You need to go to the actual formula, make an arbitrary change and refresh to run it again.
=REGEXREPLACE(CELL("address",'SHEET NAME'!A1),"'?([^']+)'?!.*","$1")
I solved this by using info found in this solution on how to force a function to refresh. It may not be the most elegant solution, but it forced Sheets to pay attention to this cell and update it regularly, so that it catches an updated sheet title.
=IF(TODAY()=TODAY(), REGEXREPLACE(CELL("address",'SHEET NAME'!A1),"'?([^']+)'?!.*","$1"), "")
Using this, Sheets know to refresh this cell every time you make a change, which results in the address being updated whenever it gets renamed by a user.
I got this to finally work in a semi-automatic fashion without the use of scripts... but it does take up 3 cells to pull it off. Borrowing from a bit from previous answers, I start with a cell that has nothing more than =NOW() it in to show the time. For example, we'll put this into cell A1...
=NOW()
This function updates automatically every minute. In the next cell, put a pointer formula using the sheets own name to point to the previous cell. For example, we'll put this in A2...
='Sheet Name'!A1
Cell formatting aside, cell A1 and A2 should at this point display the same content... namely the current time.
And, the last cell is the part I'm borrowing from previous solutions using a regex expression to pull the fomula from the second cell and then strip out the name of the sheet from said formula. For example, we'll put this into cell A3...
=REGEXREPLACE(FORMULATEXT(A2),"='?([^']+)'?!.*","$1")
At this point, the resultant value displayed in A3 should be the name of the sheet.
From my experience, as soon as the name of the sheet is changed, the formula in A2 is immediately updated. However that's not enough to trigger A3 to update. But, every minute when cell A1 recalculates the time, the result of the formula in cell A2 is subsequently updated and then that in turn triggers A3 to update with the new sheet name. It's not a compact solution... but it does seem to work.
To match rare sheets names like:
Wow!
Oh'Really!
''!
use the formula:
=SUBSTITUTE(REGEXEXTRACT(CELL("address";Sheet500!A1);"'?((?U).*)'?!\$[A-Za-z]+\$\d+$");"''";"'")
or
=IF(NOW();SUBSTITUTE(REGEXEXTRACT(FORMULATEXT(A1);"='?((?U).*)'?![A-Za-z]+\d+$");"''";"'")) if A1 is formula reference to your sheet.
if you want to use build-in functions:
=REGEXEXTRACT(cell("address";'Sheet1'!A1);"^'(.*)'!\$A\$1$")
Explanation:
cell("address";'Sheet1'!A1) gives you the address of the sheet, output is 'Sheet1'!$A$1. Now we need to extract the actual sheet name from this output. I'm using REGEXEXTRACT to match it by regex ^'(.*)'!\$A\$1$, but you can either use more/less specific regex or use functions like SUBSTITUTE or REPLACE

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