Purpose

Return value

Syntax

=ISERR(value)
  • value - The value to check for any error but #N/A.

Using the ISERR function

The ISERR function returns TRUE for any error type except the #N/A error. This includes #VALUE! , #REF! , #DIV/0! , #NUM! , #NAME? , #NULL! , #CALC! , and #SPILL! errors. The ISERR function takes one argument, value , which is typically a cell reference.

Examples

ISERR will return TRUE if A1 contains any error except #N/A:

=ISERR(A1) // TRUE if A1 contains an error

You can use the ISERR function together with the IF function to test for an error and display a custom message, or perform a different calculation if found.

=IF(ISERR(A1),"custom message") 

Other error functions

Excel provides a number of error-related functions, each with a different behavior:

  • The ISERR function returns TRUE for any error type except the #N/A error.
  • The ISERROR function returns TRUE for any error.
  • The ISNA function returns TRUE for #N/A errors only.
  • The ERROR.TYPE function returns the numeric code for a given error.
  • The IFERROR function traps errors and provides an alternative result.
  • The IFNA function traps #N/A errors and provides an alternative result.

Purpose

Return value

Syntax

=ISERROR(value)
  • value - The value to check for any error.

Using the ISERROR function

The ISERROR function returns TRUE for any type of error, including #N/A , #VALUE! , #REF! , #DIV/0! , #NUM! , #NAME? , #NULL! , #CALC! , and #SPILL! errors. You can use ISERROR together with the IF function to test for errors and display a custom message, or run a different calculation when an error occurs. The ISERROR function takes one argument, value , which is typically a cell reference.

Examples

ISERROR will return TRUE if A1 contains an error:

=ISERROR(A1) // TRUE if A1 contains an error

You can use the ISERROR function together with the IF function to test for an error and display a custom message if found:

=IF(ISERROR(A1),"custom message") 

To trap an error and perform a different calculation, the IFERROR function is a cleaner approach.

Other error functions

Excel provides a number of error-related functions, each with a different behavior:

  • The ISERR function returns TRUE for any error type except the #N/A error.
  • The ISERROR function returns TRUE for any error.
  • The ISNA function returns TRUE for #N/A errors only.
  • The ERROR.TYPE function returns the numeric code for a given error.
  • The IFERROR function traps errors and provides an alternative result.
  • The IFNA function traps #N/A errors and provides an alternative result.