{
  "category": "Text functions",
  "display_name": "T",
  "entry_kind": "built_in_function",
  "eval_api": {
    "method": "POST",
    "url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/api/eval"
  },
  "function_id": "FUNC.T",
  "implementation_state": {
    "answer_bank": {
      "excel_builds": [
        "20430"
      ],
      "larger_numeric": 0,
      "last_bit": 0,
      "matched": 1227,
      "other_mismatch": 0,
      "refused": 0,
      "rows": 1227,
      "unread": 0,
      "worst_ulp": 0
    },
    "detail": "Recorded: 1,227 in the answer bank and 6 workbook cells.",
    "dnacalc_commit": "9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87",
    "in_catalogue": true,
    "state": "matches",
    "state_label": "Matches every recorded Excel answer",
    "summary": "Matches all 1,233 recorded answers",
    "workbook_corpus": {
      "cells": 7,
      "matched": 6,
      "pending": 1
    }
  },
  "implementations": [
    {
      "commit": "9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87",
      "flavour": "excel-compatibility-candidate",
      "language": "Rust",
      "name": "CalcFunc",
      "own_code": [
        "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc/blob/9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87/crates/calc-func/src/catalogue/text_functions.rs#L326-L337"
      ],
      "repository": "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc",
      "shared_code": [],
      "source": "https://github.com/DnaCalc/DnaCalc/blob/9e1884369a678158dd82d3d74188daf986995e87/crates/calc-func/src/catalogue/text_functions.rs#L326-L337",
      "state": "matches",
      "suite": null,
      "summary": "Matches all 1,233 recorded answers"
    }
  ],
  "json_url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/api/functions/FUNC.T.json",
  "name": "T",
  "notes": [],
  "schema": "efh.function-reference/v1",
  "section_order": [
    "what-it-does",
    "try-it",
    "quirks",
    "how-to-implement",
    "version-differences",
    "alternatives"
  ],
  "sections": {
    "alternatives": "\n### Relationships\n\n\n- **`N`** — the numeric mirror. `N(value)` returns the number if `value` is a number, 1 for\n  `TRUE`, a serial for a date, and 0 for text. Same compatibility origin, same single-letter\n  name, opposite filter. If you understand one you understand the other.\n- **[TEXT](FUNC.TEXT.md)** — the function readers reach for when they meant to render a number\n  as text. This is the confusion `T` generates most: `TEXT(42, \"0\")` is `\"42\"`; `T(42)` is\n  `\"\"`. They are not related and are not alternatives.\n- **`ISTEXT`** — the proper type predicate, returning a logical rather than a value. `ISTEXT`\n  distinguishes empty text from a non-text value; `T` does not.\n- **`VALUE` and [NUMBERVALUE](FUNC.NUMBERVALUE.md)** — the text-to-number direction.\n- `T` is **not** a Compatibility-category function and is not superseded by anything. Its\n  legacy character is about its *origin* — cross-program compatibility with older spreadsheet\n  products — not about its status. Microsoft continues to document it as a current Text\n  function.\n\n\n",
    "how-to-implement": "\n### Notes for implementers\n\n\nThe whole function is a match on the value kind. The only ways to get it wrong are to convert\ninstead of filtering (returning `\"42\"` for `T(42)`), or to absorb errors instead of propagating\nthem.\n\nThe Empty case is worth an explicit branch rather than a fall-through: `T` on an empty cell and\n`T` on empty text produce the same visible answer for different reasons, and the shared model\nkeeps Empty distinct from text precisely so functions can treat them distinctly.\n\n`T` is a good regression canary for a value-kind implementation. Because it returns the input\nunchanged for exactly one kind and a constant for every other, a `T` disagreement is almost\nalways a value-kind bug somewhere upstream rather than a bug in `T`.\n\n\n",
    "quirks": "\n### Result and edge cases\n\n\nReturns `Text`, or propagates an `Error`.\n\nThe cases that matter:\n\n- **Numbers, including dates and times.** A date is a number wearing a format\n  ([The value universe](../model/01-value-universe.md)), so `T` on a date cell is `\"\"`. The\n  formatted display never reaches the function.\n- **Logicals.** `TRUE` is not text; `T(TRUE)` is `\"\"`.\n- **Empty cells.** `\"\"`.\n- **Numeric-looking text.** `T(\"42\")` is `\"42\"`. The value is text; that it reads as a number\n  is irrelevant, because `T` filters by kind and not by content. This is the mirror image of\n  the `SUM(\"3\")` versus `SUM(A1)` asymmetry described in\n  [Coercion and lifting](../model/02-coercion-and-lifting.md), and it is the cleanest available\n  demonstration that Excel's kind distinction is real rather than cosmetic.\n- **Errors.** An error value propagates rather than becoming `\"\"`. `T` does not swallow errors;\n  it is not a guard.\n\n\n### Errors\n\n\nMicrosoft's `T` page documents no error conditions of its own, and the function has no domain\nto violate: every value kind has a defined answer. The only errors reachable here are incoming\nones, which propagate under the shared rule in\n[Coercion and lifting](../model/02-coercion-and-lifting.md).\n\n\n",
    "sources": "\n- Microsoft, \"T function\" —\n  <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/t-function-fb83aeec-45e7-4924-af95-53e073541228>\n  (the is-or-refers-to-text rule, the empty-text result, and the statement that the function\n  exists for compatibility with other spreadsheet programs).\n- Handbook, [The value universe](../model/01-value-universe.md) — the value kinds, dates as\n  formatted numbers, Empty versus Missing, and rich-value core projections.\n- Handbook, [Coercion and lifting](../model/02-coercion-and-lifting.md) — error propagation and\n  the direct-argument versus range-scan kind asymmetry.\n- Handbook, [The call pipeline](../model/03-call-pipeline.md) — values-only argument\n  preparation.\n- Handbook projections `data/functions/FUNC.T.json` (classification: values-only preparation,\n  custom coercion/lift profile) and `data/presence/FUNC.T.json` (sole-member implementing\n  module; `BUG-FUNC-036`).\n\n",
    "version-differences": "The recorded environments below distinguish a reading from a same-input comparison. Counts describe captured inputs in each environment; overlapping captures and comparisons are not totals of unique worksheet calls.\n\n| Excel 16.0 build | Platform and CPU | Captured inputs |\n|---|---|---:|\n| 20430 | Windows, 64-bit, CPU not recorded | 1,227 |\n\nThe record contains no same-input comparison between these environments. Reading different inputs on different builds does not establish either a version change or cross-build agreement.\n\n[Recorded environments and comparison details](https://github.com/DnaCalc/ExcelFunctionsHandbook/blob/5dc75391aa5125ccc5abdb095da85950980d6fd8/content/evidence/environments/FUNC.T.json).",
    "what-it-does": "\n`T(value)` is a **type filter**, not a converter. Microsoft's rule:\n\n> If `value` is or refers to text, `T` returns `value`. If `value` does not refer to text, `T`\n> returns `\"\"` (empty text).\n\nRead that twice, because the function's name and its one-line catalogue description\n(\"Converts its arguments to text\") both point away from what it does. `T` does not render a\nnumber as text. `T(42)` is **not** `\"42\"` — it is the empty string. A number is not text, so\nthe filter rejects it.\n\n*The quoted one-line description is Microsoft's text, from its support article <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/t-function-fb83aeec-45e7-4924-af95-53e073541228>.*\n\nStated as a rule over the value universe:\n\n| `value` is | `T(value)` |\n|---|---|\n| Text | that same text, unchanged |\n| Number | `\"\"` |\n| Logical | `\"\"` |\n| Error | that error — errors are values and propagate |\n| Empty | `\"\"` |\n\n`T` is one of only two single-letter worksheet function names (`N` is the other), and the two\nare a matched pair: `T` passes text through and blanks everything else, `N` passes numbers\nthrough and zeroes everything else. Both exist for the same reason, which Microsoft states\nplainly: they are provided for compatibility with other spreadsheet programs, and you do not\ngenerally need them, because Excel converts values as necessary on its own.\n\nA consequence worth naming: `T` is the shortest way to ask \"is this cell text?\" without\n`ISTEXT` — `T(A1)=\"\"` is true for every non-text value and for empty text alike, which is\nexactly why it is not a substitute for `ISTEXT`.\n\n\n\n### Arguments\n\n\n| Argument | Meaning |\n|---|---|\n| `value` | The value to test. Required, and the only argument. |\n\n"
  },
  "signature": {
    "display": "T(value)",
    "parameters": [
      {
        "description": null,
        "name": "value",
        "optional": false,
        "repeats": false
      }
    ],
    "trailing_repeats": false
  },
  "sources": {
    "metadata": {
      "admission": {
        "label": "implemented",
        "reason": null
      },
      "arity": {
        "max": 1,
        "min": 1
      },
      "category": "Text functions",
      "classification": {
        "arg_preparation_profile": "ValuesOnlyPreAdapter",
        "coercion_lift_profile": "Custom",
        "determinism_class": "Deterministic",
        "error_collapse_profile": "None",
        "fec_dependency_profile": "None",
        "host_interaction_class": "None",
        "kernel_signature_class": "Custom",
        "rich_value_usage": "RichBlind",
        "surface_fec_dependency_profile": "RefOnly",
        "thread_safety_class": "SafePure",
        "volatility_class": "NonVolatile"
      },
      "descriptions": {
        "long": null,
        "short": "The value when it is text, otherwise empty text",
        "short_source": "dna-calc-own"
      },
      "docs": {
        "english_description": "Converts its arguments to text",
        "microsoft_url": "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/t-function-fb83aeec-45e7-4924-af95-53e073541228"
      },
      "entry_kind": "built_in_function",
      "localized_family_names": null,
      "localized_names": [
        {
          "locale": "ar-SA",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "bg-BG",
          "name": "В"
        },
        {
          "locale": "cs-CZ",
          "name": "Čt"
        },
        {
          "locale": "da-DK",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "de-DE",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "el-GR",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "en-AU",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "en-GB",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "en-US",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "es-ES",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "et-EE",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "fi-FI",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "fr-FR",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "he-IL",
          "name": "ה‘"
        },
        {
          "locale": "hr-HR",
          "name": "U"
        },
        {
          "locale": "hu-HU",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "id-ID",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "it-IT",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "ja-JP",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "ko-KR",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "lt-LT",
          "name": "A"
        },
        {
          "locale": "lv-LV",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "nb-NO",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "nl-NL",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "pl-PL",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "pt-BR",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "pt-PT",
          "name": "Q"
        },
        {
          "locale": "ro-RO",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "ru-RU",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "sk-SK",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "sl-SI",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "sr-Latn-RS",
          "name": "U"
        },
        {
          "locale": "sv-SE",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "th-TH",
          "name": "พฤ."
        },
        {
          "locale": "tr-TR",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "uk-UA",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "vi-VN",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "zh-CN",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "zh-HK",
          "name": "T"
        },
        {
          "locale": "zh-TW",
          "name": "T"
        }
      ],
      "signature": {
        "display": "T(value)",
        "parameters": [
          {
            "description": null,
            "name": "value",
            "optional": false,
            "repeats": false
          }
        ],
        "trailing_repeats": false
      },
      "surface_name": "T",
      "version_marker": null,
      "xlcall": {
        "code": "130",
        "symbol": "xlfT"
      }
    },
    "microsoft": "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/t-function-fb83aeec-45e7-4924-af95-53e073541228"
  },
  "try_it": {
    "formula": "=T(42)"
  },
  "url": "https://handbook.dnacalc.com/functions/T.html",
  "variants": [],
  "versions": [
    {
      "behaviour": "1,227 captured inputs are indexed for this environment. Capture dates: 2026-09-29 to 2026-09-29. This is a reading count, not a comparison with another build.",
      "excel_build": "16.0 build 20430",
      "platform": "Windows, 64-bit, CPU not recorded",
      "sources": [
        "https://github.com/DnaCalc/ExcelFunctionsHandbook/blob/5dc75391aa5125ccc5abdb095da85950980d6fd8/content/evidence/environments/FUNC.T.json"
      ]
    }
  ]
}