FormulaCraft

ISTEXT

ISTEXT evaluates whether the supplied value or cell reference contains a text string, returning TRUE or FALSE. It is commonly used to validate data entry, differentiate text-formatted numbers from real numbers, and conditionally process mixed-type columns.

Excel
=ISTEXT(A2)
Google Sheets
=ISTEXT(A2)
✓

Verified example

Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.

ValueIsText?
AppleTRUE
42FALSE
OrangeTRUE

=ISTEXT(A2)→TRUE

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How it works

  1. 1Provide a cell reference or value to ISTEXT (e.g., A2).
  2. 2The function returns TRUE for any text string and FALSE for numbers, dates, logical values, or errors.
  3. 3Use with COUNTIF or an array to count text entries: =SUMPRODUCT(ISTEXT(A2:A5)*1).

Need a version for your data?

Try: “Identify which cells in my column contain text versus numbers”

Related

ISBLANKISERRORISERR

Written and reviewed by FormulaCraft Team. Each formula on this page is run through our verification engine before publishing.

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