Talk:Documentation/Calc Functions/COLUMN

SF Comments

 * (1) Summary. There are two problems with the text currently in this section. One is that I do not think we should be including links to help pages. Apart from anything else, you will see that the URLs of help pages contain the software version numbers – as Calc develops, these links may no longer contain the latest information (or even may become unavailable). The second issue is that I think we should keep this section to a minimum, without repeating material that will be adequately covered in later sections. Hence, I propose the following replacement text – “Returns the column number(s) of a given reference to a single cell or to a range of cells.”.
 * (2) Returns. Does the following work better – “Returns one or more positive integers in the range 1 to 1024 (inclusive) which is/are the column number(s) of the cell(s) specified in the argument.”?
 * (3) Arguments, Reference. Suggest the following replacement text – “Reference is a reference to a cell (for example, “$Sheet1.C24”) or a cell area (for example, “$Sheet1.C24:$Sheet1.C48”) whose column number(s) is/are to be returned. The name of a named range or a database range may be passed as the argument to COLUMN.
 * (4) Arguments, existing bullet. Suggest deleting this bullet and covering the concept more coherently in the Additional details section.
 * (5) Arguments, proposed new bullet. “If an attempt is made to pass multiple references to COLUMN, it returns an error. Using the tilde reference concatenation operator is not possible so, for example, the formula =COLUMN(A1:B2~C1:D4) returns an error. Similarly, if a named range comprises more than one area, then an error is returned if it is passed as an argument to COLUMN.”.
 * (6) Arguments, proposed new bullet. “If the argument is not a valid reference to a spreadsheet area (for example, it is simply a number or a string) then COLUMN reports an error.”
 * (7) Additional details, insert 1st paragraph as follows – “Assuming that you are using A1 notation for formula syntax, column A is 1, column B is 2, and so on. Formula syntax is selected in the Formula Options area of the Tools > Options > LibreOffice Calc > Formula dialog.”
 * (8) Additional details, insert 2nd paragraph as follows – “The detailed behaviour of the COLUMN function depends on the nature of the argument and whether the function call has been entered as an array formula.”.
 * (9) Additional details, insert 1st bullet as follows – “If no argument is passed, the column number of the cell containing the formula is returned.”.
 * (10) Additional details, insert 2nd bullet as follows – “If a single cell is passed as the argument, the column number of that cell is returned.”.
 * (11) Additional details, insert 3rd bullet as follows – “If the argument is a cell range and the formula has not been entered as an array formula, the column number of the first cell in the range is returned.”.
 * (12) Additional details, insert 4th bullet as follows – “If the argument is a cell range and the formula has been entered as an array formula, a single row of column numbers is returned (one number for each column in the range). These may overwrite the contents of cells to the right of the cell where the formula was originally entered, with no confirmation.”
 * (13) Additional details, insert 3rd paragraph as follows – “To create an array formula, type the formula in the Input line in the upper part of the Calc window and on completion press Shift+Control+Enter rather than the more usual Enter. Alternatively, use the Function Wizard to construct the call to the COLUMN function and tick the Array toggle button before pressing OK. If you click on a cell that contains an array formula and view the formula in the Input line, then the content of that cell will be surrounded by curly brackets, for example {=COLUMN(A1:Z26)}. It is not possible to create an array formula by simply typing the curly brackets around a non-array formula.”.
 * (14) Examples, 1st example. Suggest delete “in the table” (what is a table in this context?).
 * (15) Examples, 2nd example. Suggest replacing with “The first cell of the specified range is in column C, which is the third column in the sheet.”.
 * (16) Examples, 3rd example. How is this example fundamentally different from the 2nd example? Suggest deletion.
 * (17) Examples, 4th example. Suggest changing to “Both formulas return the same result because the reference only encompasses cells in column B, which is the second column in the sheet. Because single column areas have only one column number, it does not make a difference whether or not the formula is entered as an array formula.”.
 * (18) Examples, 5th example. Suggest changing “Column C” to “a cell in column C”. Change “By default current cell containing the formula is considered by the function” to “The cell containing the formula is used to determine the column number”.
 * (19) Examples, 6th example. I am not keen on using “Rabbit” as the range's name! Change “here the function is passed as an array function and "Rabbit" is the named area (C1:D3)” to “Rabbit is a named range covering the area C1:D3”. Change “The function returns a single-row array for the passed names area considering multiple columns since named area is used.” to “The function returns two values specifying the numbers of the two columns in the named range. The value 3 is returned in the cell where the array formula was originally entered; the value 4 is returned in the next cell to the right (in the same row).”. I am not sure of the purpose of the round brackets in the Returns column.

--Stevefanning (talk) 2020-12-07T12:45:55 (UTC)