A to Z of Excel Functions: The ROW Function

Welcome back to our regular A to Z of Excel Functions blog.  Today we look at the ROW function.

The ROW function

The ROW function returns the row number of a reference:

The ROW function has the following argument:

• reference: this argument is optional and represents the cell or range of cells for which you want the row number.

It should be further noted that:

• if reference is omitted, it is assumed to be the reference of the cell in which the ROW function appears
• if reference is a range of cells, and if ROW is entered as a vertical array, ROW returns the row numbers of reference as a vertical array
• reference cannot refer to multiple areas
• it should be noted that ROW is a volatile function.  A volatile function is one that causes recalculation of the formula in the cell where it resides every time Excel recalculates.  This can really slow down your model if there are too many ROW functions, for example.

Please see my examples below:

We often use it for dynamic referencing of cells, e.g. consider the formula in cell H47 (below):

This ensures the reference will update automatically if rows are inserted / deleted from the spreadsheet.

We’ll continue our A to Z of Excel Functions soon.  Keep checking back – there’s a new blog post every other business day.