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How to return a value if a cell contains text in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:IF, IFS & nested conditionsExcel & Google Sheets
=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("apple",A2)),"Contains apple","Does not contain")✓
Verified example
Computed by a real spreadsheet engine on the sample data below.
| Product | Flag |
| apple juice | |
| orange soda | |
| apple cider | |
| mango drink |
=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("apple",A2)),"Contains apple","Does not contain")→Contains apple
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Step by step
- 1Use SEARCH to find the text (SEARCH is case-insensitive): SEARCH("apple",A2) returns the position number if found, or an error if not.
- 2Wrap SEARCH in ISNUMBER to convert the result to TRUE/FALSE: ISNUMBER(SEARCH("apple",A2)).
- 3Wrap in IF: =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("apple",A2)),"Contains apple","Does not contain") to return your desired text for each case.
Tips
- Use FIND instead of SEARCH if you need case-sensitive matching. FIND("Apple",A2) will not match "apple".
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Frequently asked
Why use ISNUMBER instead of just SEARCH?
SEARCH returns an error (#VALUE!) when the text is not found, not FALSE. ISNUMBER converts both a number (found) and an error (not found) into TRUE/FALSE, which IF can use.
Can I check if a cell contains any text at all (not a specific word)?
Yes: =IF(ISTEXT(A2),"Is text","Not text") checks whether the cell contains any text value.
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