# CELL

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## Content



This function evaluates information about the formatting, location, or contents of a cell.

## Syntax

CELL(*info*, *reference*)

## Arguments

This function has the following arguments:

| **Argument** | **Description** |
| -------- | ----------- |
| *info* | Refers to a text value that specifies what type of cell information to return. This argument is required. |
| *reference* | Refers to the cell to get information about. This argument is optional. |

The *info* argument has the following options.

| **Option** | **Returns** |
| ------ | ------- |
| address | The first cell reference, as text. |
| col | The column number of the cell. |
| color | The value 1 if the cell is formatted in color for negative values; otherwise, returns 0 (zero). |
| contents | The value of the upper-left cell in the reference. |
| filename | A filename (including full path) of the file that contains the reference. |
| format | A text value that corresponds to the number format of the cell (as shown in the following table). |
| parentheses | The value 1 if the cell is formatted with parentheses for positive or all values; otherwise, returns 0. |
| prefix | A text value that corresponds to the label prefix for the cell. If the cell contains left-aligned text, a single quotation mark (') is returned. If the cell contains right-aligned text, a double quotation mark (") is returned. If the text is centered, a caret (^) is returned. A backslash (\\) is returned if the text is fill aligned and empty text is returned if the cell contains anything else. |
| protect | The value 0 is returned if the cell is not locked and 1 is returned if the cell is locked. |
| row | The row number of the cell. |
| type | A text value that corresponds to the type of data in the cell ("b" if empty, "i" if the cell contains a text constant, and "v" if the cell contains anything else). |
| width | The column width of the cell. |

The following items are returned when using the *format* option.

| **Format** | **Returns** |
| ------ | ------- |
| General | "G" |
| 0 | "F0" |
| #,##0 | ",0" |
| 0.00 | "F2" |
| #,##0.00 | ",2" |
| $#,##0\_);($#,##0) | "C0" |
| $\#\,\#\#0\_\);\[Red\]\($\#\,\#\#0\) | "C0-" |
| $#,##0.00\_);($#,##0.00) | "C2" |
| $\#\,\#\#0\.00\_\);\[Red\]\($\#\,\#\#0\.00\) | "C2-" |
| 0% | "P0" |
| 0.00% | "P2" |
| 0.00E+00 | "S2" |
| \# ?/? or \# ??/?? | "G" |
| m/d/yy or m/d/yy h:mm or mm/dd/yy | "D4" |
| d-mmm-yy or dd-mmm-yy | "D1" |
| d-mmm or dd-mmm | "D2" |
| mmm-yy | "D3" |
| mm/dd | "D5" |
| h:mm AM/PM | "D7" |
| h:mm:ss AM/PM | "D6" |
| h:mm | "D9" |
| h:mm:ss | "D8" |

## Remarks

If the *reference* argument is a range of cells, this function only returns information for the upper left cell of the range.

## Data Types

Accepts string or numeric data. Returns numeric or string data.

## Examples

`CELL("row", A10)` gives the result 10 (10 is the number of cell A10).
`CELL("type", B5)` returns the data type of the information contained in the cell B5.

## Version Available

This function is available in Spread for Windows Forms 11.0 or later.