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 the If ... End If Structure.

Understanding the If ... End If Structure

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 28, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

2

Macros in Excel are written in a language called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Like any other programming language, VBA includes certain programming structures which are used to control how the program executes. One of these structures is the If ... End If structure. The most common use of this structure has the following syntax:

If condition Then
    program statements
Else
    program statements
End If

When a macro is executing, and this structure is encountered, Excel tests whatever condition you have defined. If the condition is true, then the program statements, the statements right after the Then keyword, are executed. If they are not true, then the statements after the Else keyword are executed. The Else keyword and any following program statements (which together make up an Else clause) are optional; you do not need to include them in your macro.

Regardless of whether the program statements in the If ... End If structure are executed, when Excel is done with the structure, the macro continues running with the statement following the End If keyword.

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 (12081) 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 the If ... End If Structure.

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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Comments

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What is three more than 2?

2023-01-28 11:18:32

J. Woolley

@Tomek
Well done.

2023-01-28 08:33:41

Tomek

The If ... End If structure has one more possible element: ElseIf. That element can be repeated as many times as needed.

The full syntax is as follows:
----------------------------------
If condition Then
    [ statements ]
[ ElseIf condition-n Then
    [ elseifstatements ]]
.
.
[ Else
    [ elsestatements ]]
End If
-----------------------

Note that if in that structure several of the conditions (condition or any of condition-n) would evaluate to TRUE, only statements grouped after the first one will be executed, the rest will be ignored.

There is a structure with similar functionality - Select Case. It is a concept a bit harder to grasp, but sometimes easier to code.

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