ISTEXT

What it does

ISTEXT(value)

ISTEXT(value) returns TRUE when the value is text and FALSE otherwise. It inspects the value's kind; it does not try to interpret its contents as a number. Thus ISTEXT("19") is TRUE while ISTEXT(19) is FALSE.

The empty string "" is text, including when a formula returns it. A genuinely empty cell is different. Formatting a numeric cell to look like a label does not turn the stored number into text.

Try it

Compare =ISTEXT("19"), =ISTEXT(19), =ISTEXT("") and =ISTEXT(NA()). To test a blank cell here, supply {"B2":null} in the input-cell editor and use =ISTEXT(B2).

Quirks

An error value is a value to classify: ISTEXT returns FALSE for it rather than propagating it. That differs from a numeric function which must read the argument as a number before calculating.

An empty string can occupy a nonempty cell and still satisfy ISTEXT. Checking whether text has length zero is a separate operation. Likewise, a string that looks like a date remains text until a consumer parses it or Excel's cell-entry machinery converts it.

How to implement

Read the argument as a value and inspect its type tag. Return a logical value indicating whether that tag denotes text. Preserve the distinction between text, numeric, logical, error and blank values. Do not call a general text-to-number converter or format a value before classifying it.

When a reference is supplied, classify the referenced value under the formula's reference and array rules. An array-valued call needs a logical result at each evaluated position. Keep a missing input in this preview separate from an explicitly supplied blank: a missing input cannot be classified until the host supplies it.

Rust code

unary(ISTEXT, "ISTEXT", VALUE, istext)

/// ISTEXT: TRUE for text, empty text included.
fn istext(
    arguments: &[CalcValue],
    services: &mut EvalServices<'_>,
) -> Result<CalcValue, FunctionFault> {
    predicate(ISTEXT, arguments, services, scalar, |core| {
        matches!(core, CoreRef::Text(_))
    })
}

No implementation has been published with a Handbook test suite for this function.

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.

The 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.

Recorded environments and comparison details.

Alternatives

ISNUMBER and ISLOGICAL inspect other value kinds. ISNONTEXT is the complementary text test. ISBLANK asks about an empty cell; LEN measures text length. Neither is a replacement for a strict test of whether the value is text.

Named variants

No named variants are recorded yet.