Hey,
Trying to decipher some Excel formulas and I see some stuff like SUMPRODUCT(--Left(...)...)
What is the -- doing? Naturally seems like decrementing to me but couldn't find any documentation on it.
Thanks.
+2
A:
The unary operator (-) is a shorthand method to convert a true/false statement into -1/0.
A single operator will convert -(true) into -1, so a double unary operator is used to convert that back into 1:
-(-(true)) = -(-(1)) = 1
-(-(false)) = -(-(0)) = 0
ghoppe
2010-07-20 00:53:30
A:
I've been using SUMPRODUCT for a while and have always used the * symbol instead of the --. I'm sure I asked the same question you've asked, but I can't remember the reason they gave me, but I was told that there wasn't really a need for --as sumproduct managed itself quite well without the it.
Anyway, =sumproduct(()*()*()*()) has always worked for me, and it's less confusing.
Mike
2010-07-21 10:55:21