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Google Sheets function reference

Syntax, arguments, a worked example and the things that actually trip people up — for every function.

Text

Join, split and reshape text.

SPLIT
Splits text across several cells at a chosen delimiter.
TEXTJOIN
Joins text from several cells into one, separated by a delimiter of your choice.

Logical

Make the sheet decide: test a condition and branch on the answer.

IF
Returns one value when a test is true and another when it is false.
IFERROR
Returns a fallback value when a formula would otherwise show an error.

Math & aggregation

Add up, count and average — usually with a condition attached.

COUNTIF
Counts how many cells in a range meet a condition.
SUMIF
Adds up the numbers in a range, but only the rows that meet one condition.
SUMIFS
Adds up numbers that meet several conditions at once.

Lookup

Find a value in one place and pull back a matching value from another.

INDEX
Returns the value at a given row and column position inside a range.
MATCH
Returns the position of a value within a range, rather than the value itself.
VLOOKUP
Finds a value in the first column of a range and returns a value from another column in the same row.
XLOOKUP
Looks up a value and returns a matching one from any other range — in any direction, with a built-in fallback.

Array & filter

Work on whole ranges at once instead of dragging a formula down.

FILTER
Returns only the rows of a range that meet one or more conditions.
QUERY
Runs a small SQL-like query over a range — select, filter, sort and group in one formula.
SORT
Returns a range sorted by one or more of its columns.
UNIQUE
Returns each distinct row of a range once, discarding duplicates.