SWITCH function in Excel - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This table lists fruits in column A and their basic colors in column B. Column C will use the SWITCH function to describe the color.

Cell	Value
A1	Fruit
A2	Apple
A3	Banana
A4	Cherry
B1	Color
B2	Red
B3	Yellow
B4	Red
C1	Color Description
C2
C3
C4

Formula Trace

=SWITCH(B2, "Red", "Color is Red", "Yellow", "Color is Yellow", "Unknown Color")

Step 1: SWITCH("Red", "Red", "Color is Red", "Yellow", "Color is Yellow", "Unknown Color")

Cell Reference Map

    A       B           C
1 | Fruit | Color    | Color Description
2 | Apple | Red      | --> Formula uses B2
3 | Banana| Yellow   | 
4 | Cherry| Red      | 

The formula in C2 references cell B2 to check the fruit color and returns a description based on that.

Result

    A       B           C
1 | Fruit | Color    | Color Description
2 | Apple | Red      | Color is Red
3 | Banana| Yellow   | 
4 | Cherry| Red      | 

The formula in C2 returns "Color is Red" because B2 contains "Red" which matches the first case in SWITCH.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What will the formula return if B2 contains "Yellow"?

A Color is Red

B Color is Yellow

C Unknown Color

D Error

Key Result

SWITCH(expression, value1, result1, value2, result2, ..., default_result) returns the result matching expression or default if no match.