TRUE and FALSE Function in Excel

The TRUE and FALSE formulas are rarely used Excel functions. The reason for less use of these functions is that there are many alternative formulas to TRUE and FALSE. However, it is interesting to know that the TRUE function and FALSE function are very useful to cater to the requirements of different versions of excel. These functions are mainly used for compatibility with other excel or spreadsheet versions.

In this blog, we would deep dive into the following aspects of TRUE and FALSE excel formulas.

  • What is the purpose of the TRUE and FALSE function in Excel
  • Syntax and Arguments
  • Example of TRUE and FALSE excel formula
  • Interesting facts about the function

Here we go 😎

Objective of TRUE and FALSE Excel Functions

Many a time, I have received a common question from many excel users – “What is the use of these two uncommon excel functions – TRUE and FALSE“. The answer lies below 🙂

The =TRUE() formula simply returns the logical value ‘TRUE’ and similarly, the =FALSE() formula returns the logical value ‘FALSE’ in Excel.

Syntax and Arguments

Following are the syntax of the two functions:

=TRUE()

=FALSE()

These two functions does not hold any input argument, i.e. these are empty parenthesis functions.

Example of TRUE and FALSE Excel Functions

Let me first make you understand how to use the TRUE and FALSE excel functions and what would it return.

Simply type the formula =TRUE() and =FALSE() in an excel cell and press Enter.

As a result, you would notice that excel returns the values – ‘TRUE’ and ‘FALSE’ respectively. See the image below:

Example of TRUE FALSE Excel Function

Using this formula individually does not make sense. Moreover, this formula is combined with other logical functions like the IF function in Excel to get the result. See the below example:

=IF(A2=”Female”,TRUE(),FALSE())

Infographic - TRUE and FALSE Formula Function in Excel

In the above example, the IF function would return the value TRUE, if the value in cell B4 is “Female” otherwise it would return FALSE.

TRUE FALSE use with other functions

Thus, if the condition of the IF argument does not meet, then it simply returns the text TRUE, otherwise FALSE.

Do Not Miss These Points

  • The primary purpose of using the TRUE and FALSE functions instead of other alternatives is that these functions are compatible with any other excel version or spreadsheet applications. This means that it does not throw an error when the worksheet is opened in some older excel version.
  • If you simply type the value TRUE in a cell or inside some formula, it is the same as =TRUE() or =TRUE. Similarly FALSE is same as =FALSE() and =FALSE.
  • It is interesting to note that for excel the value TRUE means 1 and the value FALSE means 0. It means that you can use TRUE and FALSE as numbers for calculation purposes. This denotes that =TRUE+TRUE will result in 2 (i.e. 1+1) and similarly, FALSE+TRUE will result in 1 (i.e. 1+0)
TRUE is 1 and FALSE is 0

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