FormulaCraft

SIGN

SIGN examines a number and returns 1 if it is positive, -1 if it is negative, or 0 if it is zero. It is useful for flagging profit vs. loss, normalizing values to ±1, or driving conditional logic without a full IF statement.

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

Verified example

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

VarianceSign
150
-42
0
300

=SIGN(A2)→1

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Sample data — click any cell to edit

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How it works

  1. 1A2 is the number whose sign you want to test.
  2. 2Returns 1 for any positive value, -1 for any negative value, and 0 exactly for zero.
  3. 3Use with IF to label rows: =IF(SIGN(A2)=1,"Profit",IF(SIGN(A2)=-1,"Loss","Break Even")).

Need a version for your data?

Try: “Flag each row as positive, negative, or zero based on the value”

Related

SUMIFSUMIFSCOUNTIF

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

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