30 Excel Functions in 30 Days: 14 – T

Excel T function

Welcome to another weekend in the 30XL30D challenge, and you’re probably exhausted from a long week of Excel work, and yesterday’s complicated example for the TRANPOSE function.

Excel T Function

For day 14 in the challenge, we’ll examine the Excel T function

Do We Need It?

The T function is one of the less useful ones. It tests a value for text, and other functions do the same thing, so do we even need T?

To decide, let’s take a look at the T information and examples, and if you have other tips or examples, please share them in the comments.

Function 14: T

The T function returns the text from a value, or an empty string for no text.

T00

How Could You Use T?

The T function has very limited use, and could be replaced by other functions, such as ISTEXT. You can use T to:

  • Return text if value is text
  • Return an empty string if value is non-text

T Syntax

The T function has the following syntax:

  • T(value)
    • value can be any value — typed in the formula, or a cell reference

T Traps

The T function returns an error if the value is an error, unlike ISTEXT, which returns FALSE for errors.

Example 1: Test If a Value is Text

I can’t think of a situation where T would be preferable to another function, like ISTEXT. Let’s compare the two functions, side by side, to see the results.

If a value is text, the T function returns that text. In the screenshot below, the T function is used in cell C4, to check the value in cell B4.

=T(B4)

That looks like a number in cell B4, but there’s an apostrophe in front of it, so it’s actually text. The T function returns the “1234” string. In column D, the ISTEXT function also tests the value in cell B4, and returns the result of TRUE.

=ISTEXT(B4)

Test If a Value is Text with Excel T Function
Test If a Value is Text with Excel T Function

If the value is a number, as in cell B3, the T function result is an empty string. If you use ISTEXT instead, the result is FALSE.

For error values, the T function result is an error, and ISTEXT returns false.

T02

Download the T Function File

To see the formulas used in today’s examples, you can download the T function sample workbook. The file is zipped, and is in Excel 2007 file format.

No T Function Video

With only one small example, there’s not enough information to make a demo video for the T function, so class is dismissed early today!
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4 thoughts on “30 Excel Functions in 30 Days: 14 – T”

  1. T like N has it’s uses… for ex. suppose we want to return the Text value from A1 if and only if it is Text else Null:

    =T(A1)

    would give us a Null string if A1 were blank or non-text and it’s a pretty succinct approach given the alternatives:

    =IF(ISTEXT(A1),A1,””)

    =REPT(A1,ISTEXT(A1))

    though it should be noted that of the three the IF is the more robust (underlying errors).

  2. “If a value is text, the T function returns that text. In the screenshot below, the T function is used in cell C4, to check the value in cell B3.” Do you mean cell C4 checks value in cell B4? Looks like a typo.

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