What does INDEX mean in Excel?

Answer 1

INDEX is one of Excel's functions. It returns a reference to a cell that lies in a specified row and column of a range of cells. There are two formats of the function, which are the Array Format and the Range Format of the function. You can use it to find a value from a list. Here is a very simple example, where the function takes the value in the third cell in the range A5 to A15, which is a single column. The value that is in cell A7 would be returned in this case.

=INDEX(A5:A15,3)

A more complex version can get a value from a table. The following example will take the value from the cell in the range B8 to F30 that is at the 4th row and 2nd column.

=INDEX(B8:F30,4,2)

It can also be used to get values when more than one range is specified. This is the Array format of the function. The ranges are listed inside brackets. Here it gets the value in the 3rd row and 5th column from the 2nd range that is specified.

=INDEX((A7:F15, K11:M20),3,5,2)

It is a complicated but very powerful function, so it is worth trying to get used to using it.

Answer 2

INDEX is a function in Excel to allow you to get values from a range of cells. You can get the value by its row within the range as follows. If you have a list of 5 numbers from cells A2 to A6 =INDEX(A2:A6,3) would give you the third number in the list. You can also get a value by its row and column in the range. If you have a list of 25 numbers from cells A2 to A6 =INDEX(A2:E6,2,1) would give you the number in the second row and first column.