What does this Symbol Mean when surrounding a function { }

[cricket]

I have inherited a worksheet that I'm trying to edit that has a number of
custom functions that have this bracketed symbol around them { }, as soon as
I try to edit the function the bradkets disappear and the function no longer
works. Is this some sort of lock up function?

 

[Sheeloo]

An {} arond the formula indicates that the formula is an ARRAY formula. You
need to press CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER together for such formulas instead on ENTER
only after editing.

An array formula is a formula that works with an array, or series, of data
values rather than a single data value.

See http://www.cpearson.com/excel/ArrayFormulas.aspx for details.

 

[FSt1]

hi
it means that the formula is an array formula. the brackets around the
formula were put there by excel. to enter an array formula....
Ctrl+Shift+enter. you cannot put the brackets there. the brackets appear
when you enter the array formula.
if the brackets are going away and not working anymore, you may have to
reenter the array formula using the above method.

Regards
FSt1

 

[Shane Devenshire]

Hi,

These symbols are used by Excel to represent an array. Inside the formula
you can type them, but outside the formula you must let Excel add them when
you press Shift+Ctrl+Enter. In either case they are telling Excel to use
more than one item when calculating a formula.

Technically =SUM(A1:A10) could be considered an array since it uses more
than one cell, however, that is its default behavior so there is no need for
the array indicator. A formula such as =SUM(ABS(A1:A10)) would not work as
you might expect it should, because the ABS functions default is to look at a
single cell and evaluate it, not a range of cells. By entering the formula
as an array you are telling Excel to work with all the cells in the range.

If this is not 100% clear, take heart, Excel's arrays have been around 25
years an most users have little familiarity with them, let alone a full
understanding. Microsoft's help system is also limited in this area.

One of the best places to learn about arrays is a newsgroups, watch for
solutions which involve Shift+Ctrl+Enter or the word Array, or array entered.