The Excel CHOOSE Function

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Basic Description

The Excel Choose function returns a value from a list, that corresponds to a supplied index number.

It may help to think of the Choose function as a function that returns the nth entry in a given list.

The syntax of the function is :

CHOOSE( index_num, value1, [value2], ... )

where the arguments are as follows:

index_num	-	An integer value, which specifies the index of the item to be returned
value1, [value2], ...	-	A list of one or more values that you want to return a value from

In Excel 2007 or Excel 2010, up to 254 values can be supplied to the Choose function. However, in Excel 2003, you can only supply up to 29 values to the function.

Excel Choose Function Examples

Imagine you are working on the spreadsheet below and you want to set the cells in Column B, to have the following values, depending on the value of the corresponding cell in Column A.

1 - red; 2 - blue; 3 - green; 4 - brown

The Excel Choose function can be used to assign the correct value to the cells of Column B, as shown below:

Formulas:

	A	B
1	4	=CHOOSE( A1, "red", "blue", "green", "brown" )
2	2	=CHOOSE( A2, "red", "blue", "green", "brown" )
3	3	=CHOOSE( A3, "red", "blue", "green", "brown" )
4	1	=CHOOSE( A4, "red", "blue", "green", "brown" )

Results:

	A	B
1	4	brown
2	2	blue
3	3	green
4	1	red

Further information and examples of the Excel Choose Function can be found on the Microsoft Office website.

Choose Function Errors

If you get an error from the Excel Choose Function, this is likely to be the #VALUE! error:

Common Errors

#VALUE!

Occurs if the supplied index_num is less than 1 or is greater than the supplied number of values

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