ISNUMBER

[PWD]

In EXCEL 2000. =IF(ISNUMBER(M9),"NUMBER","NOT&quot works OK (cell M9 only contains "4&quot but =IF(ISNUMBER(LEFT(A14,1)),"NUMBER","NOT&quot doesn't and always comes up as "NOT", i.e FALSE. I'm trying to determine if the first character of a cell is numeric, e.g. where cell A14 is '5-Jan Total' =IF(ISNUMBER(LEFT(A14,1)),"NUMBER","NOT&quot. Any ideas anyone?
Des.

 

[egobbitz]

You have to convert the text to a number in order for it to evaluate correctly.

Try this

=IF(ISNUMBER(VALUE(LEFT(A14,1))),"NUMBER","NOT")

Hope that works. I tried it on my pc and it did.

Nick

 

[xlbo]

Just to explain - if you use any of the character functions (Left / Right / Mid), the result returned will be a string ie text. That is why youhave to use the VALUE function to convert to a number

Rgds, Geoff
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[PWD]

Yup, works just fine. Thanx Nick. Ah, string - thanks Geoff

Des.