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find first non blank cell in a row

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    find first non blank cell in a row

    First time here. I'm new to excel, so this will probably be very simple for most of you, but I have been trying to find an answer for hours. Any help would be much appreciated!

    I need to know the value (which is a date) of the first non-blank cell in a range in a row. I have found some array formulas by searching forums/google etc., but they either return it for the whole row (which I don't want), or they return text (which I don't want), or they don't work at all.

    The range is: B9:FL9. Some of the cells in this range are blank, some are "0", and some contain dates. I need to know the most recent (furthest left) cell that contains a date and what that date is. Thanks!
    Last edited by NBVC; 10-24-2008 at 01:57 PM.

  2. #2
    Forum Expert NBVC's Avatar
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    Try:

    =INDEX(B9:FL9,MATCH(TRUE,B9:FL9>0,0))

    confirmed with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER not just ENTER.

    You may need to format the result cell as Date.
    Where there is a will there are many ways.

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    Thanks. That is much closer than anything else I have found. However, it only works on a row with no blank cells. If there is a blank cell ("") before the most recent date, it returns a blank cell. If there are only zeros and dates, it returns the most recent date. Did I do something wrong?
    Last edited by mdmarsh; 10-24-2008 at 02:03 PM.

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    Try
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    Forum Expert NBVC's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mdmarsh View Post
    Thanks. That is much closer than anything else I have found. However, it only works on a row with no blank cells. If there is a blank cell ("") before the most recent date, it returns a blank cell. If there are only zeros and dates, it returns the most recent date. Did I do something wrong?
    It should work as I have given....even with your described conditions.

    Did you confirm the formula with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER?


    P.S. If you indicate that your thread is Solved, and then discover issues, it is better to add a post to your thread rather than edit your last post. This way, the thread is re-opened. I/we don't usually go back to review solved threads to see if additions or edits have been made.

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    Sorry about taking so long. I had to help my children w/some stuff. Thanks for the user tip as well as the excel help. The formula works perfectly. I really appreciate it!

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