INDIRECT for more than 1000 Rows

Question

Here's a puzzler!
Why does this not work for values at G6579 of more than 1000, i.e., for Cells below C1000.
=IF(G6579<=0,CHAR(32),INDIRECT("C"&G6579))
It works fine for all the rows above 6579 which find rows above C1000. The Cells in column C have values, but at Row 6579 and below, this formula generates "This formula contains an invalid reference".
Have I hit a limit on allowable INDIRECT argument values?
Dick

Answer 1

Dick Huitema wrote:
YVAN:
May you explain why you use CHAR(32) to define a string of one space ?
DICK:
I want the cell left blank; if there's a better way, I'm all ears. I might then be able to use the test you recommended (using LEN)... although I haven't needed one so far.
Further thoughts?
BARRY:
Previous thoughts, actually. Yvan, as he mentioned, had suggested using the empty string ( "" ) >instead of a space.
=IF(G6579<=0,"",INDIRECT("C"&1000))
Must have had your earplugs in at the time. ;-)</div>
Yup! And the sleep mask must have been on, too!
Sorry Yvan... I didn't quite understand what "empty string" meant and thought you were trying to suggest using LEN... which made no sense, of course.
An empty string is a string which contains nothing, the one defined by ""
=CHAR(32) defines a string of one space character, the one which is often created using =" "
In many tables, we need to take care of empty cells.
The true definition of an empty cell is a cell which contains nothind.
This status may be checked thanks to the function ISBLANK(theCell).
Alas, as there is no function allowing us to define the value of a cell to nothing (I'm desparately waiting for the function BLANK()) we have to use the canada dry blank cell.
My own choice is to set the content of the cell to the empty string ("") . You used the space (" ").
I described the way o check if a cell if "blank in the extended fashion"
LEN(of a true empty cell) is zero, because the length of nothing is nil.
LEN(of a cell containing "") is zero, because it's the definition of the empty string.
So, the single instruction LEN(theCell) give us the wanted informatioN
If you use the space string, the test is more complex. The one which I sdescribed was wrong because it didn't treated the case of a table using both empty strings and space strings.
It would be
=IF(OR(LEN(theCell)=0,theCell=" "),theCellIisEmpty,theCellIsNotEmpty)
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 12 juillet 2010 19:15:08