Article ID: 139574
Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Excel 5.0c
- Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac
- Microsoft Excel 98 for Macintosh
- Microsoft Excel 5.0 for Macintosh
- Microsoft Excel 5.0a for Macintosh
This article was previously published under Q139574
SUMMARY
The examples in the "More Information" section of this article demonstrate two ways you can find the address of the cell containing the largest or smallest value in a range of cells. If you are using a single row or column of data, you can use a worksheet formula. If you are using multiple rows or columns of adjacent data, you will need to create a custom Visual Basic for applications function. For examples of both methods, see the "More Information" section of this article.
MORE INFORMATION
Using Formulas
You can return the address of the cell with the largest or smallest value in a column or row by using the CELL(), OFFSET(), and MATCH() functions along with the MAX()or the MIN() function.
If there are multiple occurrences of the largest or smallest value, the following formulas will return the cell address of the first occurrence of the value. If there is only one occurrence of the value, the address of the cell containing that value will be returned.
To return the address of a cell in a column (in this example, column A, cells A1:A10), use the appropriate formula in the following table.
For this
address Use this formula
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cell with
largest
value =CELL("address",OFFSET(A1,MATCH(MAX(A1:A10),A1:A10,0)-1,0))
Cell with
smallest
value =CELL("address",OFFSET(A1,MATCH(MIN(A1:A10),A1:A10,0)-1,0))
To return the address of a cell in a row (in this example, column A, cells A1:J1), use the appropriate formula in the following table.
For this
address Use this formula
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cell with
largest
value =CELL("address",OFFSET(A1,0,MATCH(MAX(A1:J1),A1:J1,0)-1))
Cell with
smallest
value =CELL("address",OFFSET(A1,0,MATCH(MIN(A1:J1),A1:J1,0)-1))
Using Custom Functions
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To return the cell address of the largest value in an adjacent range that is larger than a single column or row, you can create a custom Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications function.
Function MaxAddress(The_Range)
' Sets variable equal to maximum value in the input range.
MaxNum = Application.Max(The_Range)
' Loop to check each cell in the input range to see if equals the
' MaxNum variable.
For Each cell In The_Range
If cell = MaxNum Then
' If the cell value equals the MaxNum variable it
' returns the address to the function and exits the loop.
MaxAddress = cell.Address
Exit For
End If
Next cell
End Function
To find the cell address of the smallest value in an adjacent range, substitute the Min() function for the Max() function as in the following example:
Function MinAddress(The_Range)
' Sets variable equal to minimum value in the input range.
MinNum = Application.Min(The_Range)
' Loop to check each cell in the input range to see if equals the
' min variable.
For Each cell In The_Range
If cell = MinNum Then
' If the cell value equals the max variable it
' returns the address to the function and exits the loop
MinAddress = cell.Address
Exit For
End If
Next cell
End Function
REFERENCES
For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic forApplications, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications
274705 OFF2001: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications
Additional query words: XL2001 XL98 XL97 8.00 adjacent contiguous nonadjacent noncontiguous discontiguous discontinuous maximum minimum greatest least
Keywords: kbhowto kbprogramming KB139574
