SWITCH function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
What is SWITCH function in Excel?
SWITCH function is one of the Logical functions in Microsoft Excel that evaluates one value (called the expression) against a list of values, and returns the result corresponding to the first matching value. If there is no match, an optional default value may be returned.
Syntax of SWITCH function
In its simplest form, the SWITCH function says:
- =SWITCH(Value to switch, Value to match1…[2-126], Value to return if there’s a match1…[2-126], Value to return if there’s no match)
Where you can evaluate up to 126 matching values and results.
See the following formula:
- Value to switch? In this case, WEEKDAY(A2) equals 2.
- What value do you want to match? In this case, it’s 1, 2 and 3.
- If there’s a match, what do you want to return as a result? In this case, it would be Sunday for 1, Monday for 2 and Tuesday for 3.
- Default value to return if there’s no match found. In this case, it’s the text “No match”.
Note: If there are no matching values, and no default argument is supplied, the SWITCH function returns the #N/A! error.
Examples of SWITCH function
Steps to follow:
1. Open a new Excel worksheet.
2. Copy data in the following table below and paste it in cell A1
Note: For formulas to show results, select them, press F2 key on your keyboard and then press Enter.
You can adjust the column widths to see all the data, if need be.
Example
| Value | Formula | Result |
| 2 | =SWITCH(WEEKDAY(A2),1,”Sunday”,2,”Monday”,3,”Tuesday”,”No match”) | Because A2=2, and Monday is the result argument corresponding to the value 2, SWITCH returns Monday |
| 99 | =SWITCH(A3,1,”Sunday”,2,”Monday”,3,”Tuesday”) | Because there’s no match and no else argument, SWITCH returns #N/A! |
| 99 | =SWITCH(A4,1,”Sunday”,2,”Monday”,3,”Tuesday”,”No match”) | No match |
| 2 | =SWITCH(A5,1,”Sunday”,7,”Saturday”,”weekday”) | weekday |
| 3 | =SWITCH(A6,1,”Sunday”,2,”Monday”,3,”Tuesday”,”No match”) | Tuesday |
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