The Excel ISNA Function

Related Functions:

ISERR
ISERROR

Excel #N/A Error

The Excel #N/A error is produced when a value is not available to your formula.

For example, if the Vlookup function is asked to look up the value '10' in a spreadsheet column, but there is no cell containing the value 10, the function will, instead, return the #N/A error.

Function Description

The Excel ISNA function tests if an initial supplied expression (or value) returns the Excel #N/A Error, and if so, returns TRUE; Otherwise the function returns FALSE.

The syntax of the function is:

ISNA( value )

Where the value argument is the expression or value to be tested.

Isna Function Examples

The following spreadsheet shows the Excel Isna function, used to test different values and expressions.

Formulas:

	A	B
1		=ISNA( 536 )
2		=ISNA( "text" )
3		=ISNA( #N/A )
4		=ISNA( 10+5 )
5		=ISNA( VLOOKUP( 10, A1:A7, 1, 0 ) )
6	#N/A	=ISNA( A6 )
7	#DIV/0!	=ISNA( A7 )
8		=ISNA( A8 )

Results:

	A	B
1		FALSE
2		FALSE
3		TRUE
4		FALSE
5		TRUE
6	#N/A	TRUE
7	#DIV/0!	FALSE
8		FALSE

The above examples use different argument types, including:

Simple values (see cells B1-B3);
Expressions (see cells B4 & B5);
Cell references (see cells B6-B8).

Note also that, in the above examples:

Although the expression in cell A7 is an error, this is not the #N/A error, so the Isna function in cell B7 returns FALSE.
In cell B5, the Vlookup function cannot find the value '10' in column A of the spreadsheet, and so returns the #N/A error. Therefore, the Isna function returns TRUE.

For further information and examples of the Excel 'Is' functions, see the Microsoft Office website.

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