ARGUMENT

Macro Sheets Only

Describes the arguments used in a custom function, which is a type of macro, or in a subroutine. A custom function or subroutine must contain one ARGUMENT function for each argument in the macro itself. There are two forms of the ARGUMENT function. In the first form, only name_text is required; in the second form, only reference is required. Use the first form if you want to store the argument as a name. Use the second form if you want to store the argument in a specific cell or cells.

Syntax 1

For name storage

ARGUMENT(name_text, data_type_num)

Syntax 2

For cell storage

ARGUMENT(name_text, data_type_num, reference)

Name_text is the name of the argument or of the cells containing the argument. Name_text is required if you omit reference.

Data_type_num is a number that determines what type of values Microsoft Excel accepts for the argument. The following table lists the possible data types.

Data_type_num Type of value

1 Number

2 Text

4 Logical

8 Reference

16 Error

64 Array

• Data_type_num can be a sum of the preceding different numbers to allow for more than one possible type of data. For example, if data_type_num is 7, which is the sum of 1, 2, and 4, then the value can be a number, text, or logical value.
• Data_type_num is an optional argument. If you omit data_type_num, it is assumed to be 7.
• If the value that is passed to the function macro is not of the type specified by data_type_num, Microsoft Excel first attempts to convert it to the specified type. If the value cannot be converted, the macro returns the #VALUE! error value.

Reference is the cell or cells in which you want to store the argument's value.

• If you specify reference, the value that is passed to ARGUMENT is entered as a constant in the specified cell, and name_text becomes an optional argument because you can refer to the cell with either reference or name_text.
• If you omit reference, name_text is defined on the macro sheet and refers to the value that is passed to ARGUMENT. Once name_text is defined, you can use it in formulas.

Remarks

• Custom functions and subroutines can accept from 1 to 29 arguments.
• If a macro contains an ARGUMENT function and you omit the corresponding argument in the function that starts the macro, the macro uses the #N/A error value as the value of the argument.

Examples

To create a custom function that calculates profit, use the following functions to specify arguments for cost, sales, and sales volume:

ARGUMENT("UnitsSold", 1)
ARGUMENT("UnitCost", 1)
ARGUMENT("UnitPrice", 1)

Related Function

RESULT Specifies the data type a custom function returns

VOLATILE Makes custom functions recalculate automatically

List of Control Functions