Too many arguments error on IF/COUNTIF nested function: how to solve

Hi all,

I need to write an excel formula with way too many nested functions, like the following one, but much longer:

=IF(COUNTIF(F7;"*Example A*");"A";IF(COUNTIF(F7;"*Example B*");"B";IF(COUNTIF(F7;"*Example C*");"C";IF(COUNTIF(F7;"*Example D*");"D";IF(COUNTIF(F7;"*Example E*");"E";IF(COUNTIF(F7;"*Example F*");"F";IF(COUNTIF(F7;"Example G*");"G";IF(COUNTIF(F7;"*Example H*");"H";"")))))))) etc. etc.

Obviously at some point, if I add more conditions I'll receive the following error: "You've entered too many arguments for this function".

Now, since I absolutely need to write all those values to make the results appear on the one cell where I write the formula, is there a way to solve this problem?

Thank you very much

excel

Formulas and Functions

OliverScheurich
Jul 21, 2023
Vesperwind
=INDEX(J2:J23,MATCH(TRUE,ISNUMBER(SEARCH(I2:I23,F7)),0))
An alternative could be this formula along with a reference table. Enter the formula with ctrl+shift+enter if you don't work with Office 365 or Excel 2021. The formula is in cell B3.

OliverScheurich
Gold Contributor
Jul 21, 2023
Vesperwind
=INDEX(J2:J23,MATCH(TRUE,ISNUMBER(SEARCH(I2:I23,F7)),0))
An alternative could be this formula along with a reference table. Enter the formula with ctrl+shift+enter if you don't work with Office 365 or Excel 2021. The formula is in cell B3.
- Vesperwind
  Copper Contributor
  Aug 06, 2023
  Hey OliverScheurich! Sorry for the late reply!
  I'd like to thank you because your formula works pretty well!!!
  The only very last problem I have is when the F7 cell is empty: I get "#N/D" on B3.
  Since when you open my file the starting point is you have 0 conditions applied, it would be visually good to have an empty cell instead of "#N/D".
  Is there any solution to apply this in the formula? Otherwise I would go for conditional formatting...
  - OliverScheurich
    Gold Contributor
    Aug 06, 2023
    Vesperwind
    You are welcome. Glad the formula works almost as intended.
    =IFERROR(INDEX(J2:J23,MATCH(TRUE,ISNUMBER(SEARCH(I2:I23,F7)),0)),"")
    In order to return an empty cell B3 if F7 is empty you can try this formula. Actually i've only wrapped the formula into IFERROR. The formula has to be entered with ctrl+shift+enter if one doesn't work with Office 365 or Excel 2021.

SergeiBaklan

MVP

Jul 21, 2023

Vesperwind

Initial formula

=IF(
    COUNTIF(F7, "*Example A*"), "A",
    IF( COUNTIF(F7, "*Example B*"), "B",
    IF( COUNTIF(F7, "*Example C*"),"C",
    IF(COUNTIF(F7, "*Example D*"),"D",
    IF( COUNTIF(F7, "*Example E*"), "E",
    IF( COUNTIF(F7, "*Example F*"), "F",
    IF( COUNTIF(F7, "Example G*"), "G",
    IF(COUNTIF(F7, "*Example H*"), "H",
         "")
    )  ) )  ) ) ) )

works correctly. Which formula doesn't work?

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Too many arguments error on IF/COUNTIF nested function: how to solve

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