Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Understanding Operators.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 21, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365
Operators are symbols used in a formula to define the relationship between two or more cell references, or between two or more values. They cause Excel to perform some action. For instance, consider the following formula:
= B3 + B4
In this case, the plus sign is the operator. This is not the only operator that Excel supports, however. There are several types of operators supported by Excel. Operators of the most common type, arithmetic, are shown here:
| Operator | Â | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| + | Â | Addition |
| — | Â | Subtraction |
| * | Â | Multiplication |
| / | Â | Division |
| % | Â | Percent (placed after a value) |
| ^ | Â | Exponentiation |
Excel also supports Boolean, or comparison, operators. These operators are used to compare two values or expressions, returning either the logical value TRUE or FALSE. These are special values supported by Excel to represent the outcome of a comparison. Comparison operators are used most often in arguments for logical functions. For example, consider the following formula:
=IF(B3 > 99,"Limit has been exceeded","")
This formula uses the IF function to determine whether the value contained in cell B3 is greater than 99. If it is, the indicated text message is displayed in the cell containing this formula. Otherwise, nothing is displayed.
As you develop more complex Excel worksheets, you will find yourself relying more and more on comparison operators. The comparison operators are these:
| Operator | Â | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| = | Â | Equal to |
| > | Â | Greater than |
| >= | Â | Greater than or equal to |
| < | Â | Less than |
| <= | Â | Less than or equal to |
| <> | Â | Not equal to |
Finally, Excel also provides a text operator, which is used to combine (or concatenate) text. This operator is the ampersand (&) character.
You should note that operators only function as operators when they are in formulas. If you want to make sure that a character is not interpreted as an operator, then you need to enclose it within quote marks. For instance, consider the following:
= A1 & " & " & B1 & " work together"
If there are names of people (Bill and Betty) in cells A1 and B1, then the result of this formula would be the following:
Bill & Betty work together
Note that there are four ampersands in the formula, but only three of them are considered operators. The ampersand within the quote marks is treated as a string by Excel.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12426) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Understanding Operators.
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2023-01-21 10:02:16
J. Woolley
Also, see https://excelribbon.tips.net/T012060_How_Operators_are_Evaluated.html
2023-01-21 09:36:24
Ron S
This article goes into more of the nuances of the order of operators in Excel. There are some surprising differences from what you learned in school
Order of Calculation
Excel's order of calculation is not BODMAS!
https://office-watch.com/2022/excels-order-calculation-bodmas/
Excel has a slightly different order of calculation to the BODMAS rule taught to us at school. Those variations are important and can give a result you didn't expect. Ray E from Iowa asked about one of those tricky algebra questions that appear on social media and generate heated arguments -10^2. Ray wondered how Excel coped and we got curious too.
The questions that go around the web are deliberately ambiguous. No self-respecting mathematician would write an equation that could be misinterpreted.
We compiled some of these examples and dropped them into Excel to see what happened. Excel did well but there are anomalies or variance (not necessarily errors) marked in brown and we'll explain below.
Bottom line, Use brackets (or parentheses if you prefer) whenever you think extra clarity is necessary or you want to explicitly make sure Excel operates in the order you expect. Unlike math teachers, Excel won't deduct marks for unnecessary extra ().
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
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