"Function Not Valid" - Getting Rid of the "@" symbol

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vienna
  • Start date Start date
V

Vienna

Hi,
Is there a way I can just type "@sometext" in a cell in
Excel? Every time I do this, I receive an error message
saying "That Function is Not Valid". It seems to
interpret the "@" symbol as some formula shortcut to a
most recently used formula?

Thank you in advance.
 
Try formatting the cell as text first. Or precede your entry with an
apostrophe:

'@sometext

@ was used by Lotus 123 like the leading = sign in xl functions.

=sum(a1:b3)
is equivalent to
@sum(a1..b3)

(And excel wants those Lotus users to convert to excel. So it tries to make
writing formulas easier--and accepts both @/=)
 
Dave Peterson said:
@ was used by Lotus 123 like the leading = sign in xl functions.
Click to expand...

Quibble: @ precedes *ALL* 123 functions. 123 equivaents for Excel's NOW(),
TODAY(), RAND(), PI() are @NOW, @TODAY, @RAND and @PI *without* trailing
empty parentheses. The @ specifies a separate name space, so in 123 it's
perfectly OK to give ranges names like SUM, COUNT, PI, or RAND (not to
mention really dumb names like A1 or X99, which effectively masks those
cells unless qualified with worksheet names).

The leading + was only needed in 123 when the first term in a cell formula
was a cell address or range name. Formulas beginning with number constants,
functions or left parentheses didn't need leading +s.
 
Back
Top