XL97: Calculation of Formula in Formula Bar Returns #VALUE!

ID: Q157031

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you press F9 to evaluate a formula in the formula bar, the formula may return #VALUE! even when the formula returns the correct result to the cell.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if the formula returns a string that contains more than 255 characters.

STATUS

This is by design in Microsoft Excel 97.

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Excel, you can select all or part of a formula in the formula bar and press F9 to evaluate only the selected portion. If the selected portion returns a string that contains greater than 255 characters, it returns #VALUE!.

For example, if you type the following formula in a cell:

   =REPT("a",1000)

and you select the formula in the formula bar and press F9, the formula returns #VALUE! instead of a string that contains 1000 "a" characters as expected.

The following text functions may evaluate to #VALUE! if they return more than 255 characters:

   CLEAN
   CONCATENATE
   LEFT
   LOWER
   MID
   PROPER
   REPLACE
   REPT
   RIGHT
   SUBSTITUTE
   TRIM
   UPPER

Additional query words: XL97 8.0 8.00 string function recalculate calculate

Keywords          : xlformula 
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: November 1, 1998