Conditional Logic

Excel formula for Return a value if a cell contains text

Flag rows where a cell contains a given word, anywhere in the text.

Copy this formula

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("urgent", A2)), "Yes", "No")

How the formula works

SEARCH returns the position of the word if present (a number) or an error if not. ISNUMBER turns that into TRUE/FALSE, and IF returns your labels. SEARCH is case-insensitive; use FIND for case-sensitive matching.

Examples

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("paid", B2)), "✓", "")→✓

Marks rows whose status contains "paid".

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("ltd", A2)), "Company", "Person")→Company

SEARCH ignores case, so a cell containing Acme Ltd matches.

=IF(COUNTIF(A2, "*urgent*")>0, "Yes", "No")→Yes

COUNTIF with wildcards is a shorter way to test for part of a text.

FAQ

How do I check for an exact match instead?

Compare directly: =IF(A2="urgent", "Yes", "No"). SEARCH is for partial/contains checks.

How do I make the check case-sensitive?

Replace SEARCH with FIND: =IF(ISNUMBER(FIND("Urgent", A2)), "Yes", "No"). FIND distinguishes upper and lower case.

How do I check whether a cell contains any text at all?

Use =IF(ISTEXT(A2), "Text", "Not text"). ISTEXT is TRUE for any text value and FALSE for numbers, dates and blanks.

Why do I need ISNUMBER around SEARCH?

SEARCH returns a position when it finds the text and #VALUE! when it does not. ISNUMBER turns that into TRUE or FALSE so IF can use it.

Related formulas

Assign grades or tiers with nested logic Flag or handle blank cells

Functions used

IF SEARCH ISNUMBER

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