Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, 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: Swapping Two Numbers.

Swapping Two Numbers

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 2, 2026)

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If you do any serious macro programming, there will eventually come a time when you want to swap the values in two numeric variables. In some versions of BASIC, there are commands that handle this. VBA leaves you to our own devices, however. The following technique should do the trick for most people:

    TempNum = MyNum1
    MyNum1 = MyNum2
    MyNum2 = TempNum

When completed, the values in MyNum1 and MyNum2 have been swapped, and TempNum doesn't matter since it was intended (by this technique) as a temporary variable anyway.

If you want to get fancy and do the swapping without using the intermediate TempNum variable, you could use this series of commands:

    MyNum1 = MyNum1 Xor MyNum2
    MyNum2 = MyNum2 Xor MyNum1
    MyNum1 = MyNum1 Xor MyNum2

This approach only works if MyNum1 and MyNum2 are whole numbers, meaning they are Integer or Long data types. (If you need to swap any other type of data, you need to use the previous approach in this tip.) It works because the Xor function basically "encodes" the difference between the values. So, successively applying Xor causes the variables to switch their values. (It is mind exploding to try to understand, but it does work.)

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the ExcelTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9098) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Swapping Two Numbers.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is six minus 5?

2026-05-03 10:35:30

J. Woolley

This Tip pertains to swapping values between two VBA variables. You might also be interested in swapping two cells on a worksheet. See https://excelribbon.tips.net/T001664_Swapping_Two_Cells.html

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