Skip to content
Free Excel Tutorials
  • Home
  • Excel For Beginners
  • Excel Intermediate
  • Advanced Excel For Experts

Data Analysis

  • Chart Axes in Excel
  • How to add Trendline to a chart in Excel
  • How to calculate current stock or inventory in Excel
  • How to Sort by Color in Excel
  • How to sum a total in multiple Excel tables

References

  • How to get first row number in range in Excel
  • How to get last row in numeric data in Excel
  • Perform case-sensitive Lookup in Excel
  • Extract all partial matches in Excel
  • How to get first column number in range in Excel

Data Validations

  • How To Create Drop-down List in Excel
  • Excel Data validation must not contain
  • Excel Data validation date in specific year
  • Excel Data validation date in next 30 days
  • Excel Data validation must begin with

Understanding VBA Function and Sub in Excel

by

Excel Visual Basic: A set of commands to perform a specific task is placed into a procedure, which can be a Function procedure or a Sub procedure (also known as functions and subroutines).

The difference between a function and a sub in Excel VBA is that a function can return a value while a sub cannot. Functions and subs become very useful as program size increases.

Therefore, if you wish to perform a task that returns a result (e.g. summing of a group of numbers), you will generally use a Function procedure, but if you just need a set of actions to be carried out (e.g. formatting a set of cells), you might choose to use a Sub procedure.

Function

If you want Excel VBA to perform a task that returns a result, you can use a function. Place a function into a module (In the Visual Basic Editor, click Insert, Module). For example, the function with name Area.

Function Area(x As Double, y As Double) As Double
Area = x * y

End Function

Explanation: This function has two arguments (of type Double) and a return type (the part after As also of type Double). You can use the name of the function (Area) in your code to indicate which result you want to return (here x * y).

You can now refer to this function (in other words call the function) from somewhere else in your code by simply using the name of the function and giving a value for each argument.

Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code lines:

Dim z As Double

z = Area(3, 5) + 2

MsgBox z

Explanation: The function returns a value so you have to ‘catch’ this value in your code. You can use another variable (z) for this. Next, you can add another value to this variable (if you want). Finally, display the value using a MsgBox.

Result when you click the command button on the sheet:

Sub

If you want Excel VBA to perform some actions, you can use a sub. Place a sub into a module (In the Visual Basic Editor, click Insert, Module). For example, the sub with name Area.

Sub Area(x As Double, y As Double)

MsgBox x * y

End Sub

Explanation: This sub has two arguments (of type Double). It does not have a return type! You can refer to this sub (call the sub) from somewhere else in your code by simply using the name of the sub and giving a value for each argument.

Place a command button on your worksheet and add the following code line:

Area 3, 5
Result when you click the command button on the sheet:

Can you see the difference between the function and the sub? The function returned the value 15. We added the value 2 to this result and displayed the final result. When we called the sub we had no more control over the result (15) because a sub cannot return a value!

Post navigation

Previous Post:

Shade Alternate Rows in Excel

Next Post:

How to Create Area Chart in Excel

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn Basic Excel

Ribbon
Workbook
Worksheets
Format Cells
Find & Select
Sort & Filter
Templates
Print
Share
Protect
Keyboard Shortcuts

Categories

  • Charts
  • Data Analysis
  • Data Validation
  • Excel Functions
    • Cube Functions
    • Database Functions
    • Date and Time Functions
    • Engineering Functions
    • Financial Functions
    • Information Functions
    • Logical Functions
    • Lookup and Reference Functions
    • Math and Trig Functions
    • Statistical Functions
    • Text Functions
    • Web Functions
  • Excel VBA
  • Excel Video Tutorials
  • Formatting
  • Grouping
  • Others

Logical Functions

  • Check multiple cells are equal in Excel
  • IF with wildcards in Excel
  • SWITCH function example in Excel
  • IFNA function: Description, Usage, Syntax, Examples and Explanation
  • How to use Excel TRUE Function

Date Time

  • How to enter Today’s Date or Static Date and Time in Excel
  • How to get workdays between dates in Excel
  • Get days between dates in Excel
  • Get month from date in Excel
  • How to calculate quarter from date in Excel

Grouping

  • Calculate conditional mode with criteria in Excel
  • Group arbitrary text values in Excel
  • How to randomly assign data to groups in Excel
  • Group times into unequal buckets in Excel
  • If cell contains one of many things in Excel

General

  • Common Errors in Excel
  • How to calculate percent sold in Excel
  • How to generate random number between two numbers in Excel
  • Find Most Frequently Occurring Word in Excel Worksheet
  • How to password protect excel sheet?
© 2023 xlsoffice . All Right Reserved. | Teal Smiles | Abbreviations And Their Meaning