ISERROR Function In Excel With Example

by Simple MS Office on Wednesday, January 06, 2021 in Excel, Excel for Intermediate

ISERROR ()

This function tests a cell or calculation to determine whether an error has been generated.

It will show TRUE for any type of error and FALSE if no error is found.

Best view in desktop mode.

	A	B	C	D
1	Cell to Test	Result
2	3	FALSE	=ISERROR(A2)
3	#DIV/0!	TRUE	=ISERROR(A3)
4	#NAME?	TRUE	=ISERROR(A4)
5	#REF!	TRUE	=ISERROR(A5)
6	#VALUE!	TRUE	=ISERROR(A6)
7	#N/A	TRUE	=ISERROR(A7)
8

Syntax

=ISERROR (Cell)

Formatting

No special formatting is needed. Used by itself the result will be shown as TRUE or FALSE.

Example

The following tables were used to calculate the difference between two dates.

Table 1 shows an error value when entered an incorrect date format.

The #VALUE! indicates that the calculation cannot be done due to an incorrect format.

Table 1

	A	B	C	D
12	Start Date :	Jan 01 21
13	End Date :	05-Jan-21
14	Difference :	#VALUE!	=B13-B12
15

Table 2 shows how this error can be trapped by using the ISERROR function with IF function.

IF function checks the condition for true result and gives a message defined by the user. There has been an error in the data entry.

Table 2

	A	B	C	D
18	Start Date :	Jan 01 21
19	End Date :	05-Jan-21
20	Difference :	Enter Correct Format!	=IF(ISERROR(B19-B18),"Enter Correct Format!",B19-B18)
21

Table 3 shows when the date entered in the correct format, it shows the calculated value. IF function checks the condition for the false result then minus formula works and calculates the difference value.

Table 3