Filter Array in Excel: Excluding Blank Cells

Filter Array Excel: Excluding Blank Cells

In this article, we will discuss how to filter an array in Excel while excluding blank cells. This is a common task when working with data in spreadsheets, and Excel provides several ways to accomplish this. We will cover the following key concepts:

• Using the Filter function
• Excluding blank cells from the filter
• Using a filter function set based on cell input

Using the Filter Function

The Filter function in Excel is a powerful tool that allows you to quickly and easily filter data in a table or range of cells. To use the Filter function, follow these steps:

1. Select the data range that you want to filter
2. Go to the "Data" tab in the Excel ribbon
3. Click the "Filter" button in the "Sort & Filter" group
4. Excel will add drop-down arrows to each column header in the selected range
5. Click the drop-down arrow for the column that you want to filter
6. Select the filter criteria that you want to apply

By default, the Filter function will include all cells in the selected range, including blank cells. To exclude blank cells from the filter, follow the steps below.

Excluding Blank Cells from the Filter

To exclude blank cells from the filter, follow these steps:

1. Click the drop-down arrow for the column that you want to filter
2. Select "Text Filters" or "Number Filters" (depending on the data type of the column)
3. Select "Does Not Equal"
4. In the "Value" field, type two double quotes ("")
5. Click "OK"

This will filter the column to exclude any cells that are blank or contain no data.

Using a Filter Function Set Based on Cell Input

If you need to filter an array based on user input in a cell, you can use a filter function set. This is a quicker way to search for specific data in a large range of cells. To create a filter function set, follow these steps:

1. Select the cell where you want to display the filter results
2. Type the following formula:

Where "range" is the range of cells that you want to filter, and "criteria" is the condition that the cells must meet to be included in the filter. For example, to filter a range of cells to exclude blank cells, you could use the following formula:

This formula will filter the range A1:C10 to exclude any cells that are blank or contain no data. The ampersand ("&") symbol is used to concatenate the cells in each row, and the double quotes ("") are used to check for blank cells. The "&&&" symbol is used to concatenate the concatenated cells with an empty string, which ensures that the formula will work with both text and number data types.

In this article, we have discussed how to filter an array in Excel while excluding blank cells. We have covered the following key concepts:

• Using the Filter function
• Excluding blank cells from the filter
• Using a filter function set based on cell input

References

• Filter data in a range or table
• Filter for non-blank cells
• Excel FILTER function