Return the logical value TRUE if the cell contains a number.

=ISNUMBER(value)

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Return the logical value TRUE if the cell contains a number, date or time and FALSE if the cell is empty or contains text, an error or formulas that return non-numerical results.

ISNUMBER is part of the collective IS functions which check specified values and return TRUE or FALSE depending on the outcome. The IS functions are useful for testing the outcome of a calculation and can be combined with the IF function in formulas to locate errors or get information about a value before performing another calculation.

The collective of IS functions are ISBLANK(value), ISERR(value), ISERROR(value), ISLOGICAL(value), ISNA(value), ISNONTEXT(value), ISNUMBER(value), ISREF(value) and ISTEXT(value).

To test the reverse of the function (e.g. to test if a cell does NOT contain an error), combine the ISNUMBER and NOT functions - =NOT(ISNUMBER(C7)) where cell reference C7 is the value being tested.

ISNUMBER syntax requires a value to test. The value argument can be a blank (empty) cell, error, logical value, text, number, reference value, or a name referring to any of these.

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ISNUMBER with text strings or numerical values.

In the examples below, the ISNUMBER function is used to determine whether cells contain numerical values or not.

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Syntax

ISNUMBER(value)

The ISNUMBER function requires 1 value argument:

1. value. Required. Generally a cell reference.

Try it now!

• Select the answer from the drop down lists in the grey cells.

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Scope

ISNUMBER can be used on its own to determine whether a cell contains a TRUE or FALSE statement or combined within a formula to test a value prior to performing additional operations.

Text:	=ISNUMBER(1/0) || result is FALSE as divide by zero triggers a #DIV/0! error not a numerical result.
Cell Reference:	=ISNUMBER(C7) || result is FALSE if cell reference C7 contains text.
Formula:	=IF(ISNUMBER(C7),"Cell contains a number","Cell does not contain a number") || when ISNUMBER is TRUE, the result is "Cell contains a number", otherwise it is "Cell does not contain a number"

Caveats

• Values that have been concatenated using the ampersand (&) are represented as text so will return a FALSE statement to the ISNUMBER function.
• Value arguments are not converted. Numeric values enclosed in double quotation marks are treated as text (e.g. "22"). Any IS functions requiring numeric values will therefore return a FALSE if the value is a text string.

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Related Functions

• ISBLANK returns the logical value TRUE if a cell is blank or empty.
• ISERR returns the logical value TRUE for any error type except the #N/A error.
• ISERROR returns the logical value TRUE for any error type.
• ISLOGICAL returns the logical value TRUE if the cell contains either a TRUE or FALSE statement.
• ISNA returns the logical value TRUE if a cell contains the #N/A error
• ISNONTEXT returns the logical value TRUE if the cell contains any value that is not text.
• ISNUMBER returns the logical value TRUE if the cell contains a number.
• ISREF returns the logical value TRUE if the cell contains a reference.
• ISTEXT returns the logical value TRUE if the cell contains any text.

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Functions Category

• Information

 

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