SWITCH function in Google Sheets - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This table lists fruits in column A and their colors in column B. We will use SWITCH to find the color name for the fruit in A2.

Cell	Value
A1	Fruit
A2	Apple
A3	Banana
A4	Cherry
B1	Color
B2	Red
B3	Yellow
B4	Red
C1	Color Result

Formula Trace

=SWITCH(A2, "Apple", "Red", "Banana", "Yellow", "Cherry", "Red", "Unknown")

Step 1: SWITCH("Apple", "Apple", "Red", "Banana", "Yellow", "Cherry", "Red", "Unknown")

Cell Reference Map

    A       B       C
1 | Fruit | Color | Color Result
2 | Apple | Red   | [Formula]
3 | Banana| Yellow| 
4 | Cherry| Red   | 

The formula in C2 uses the value in A2 (Apple) to find the matching color.

Result

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

The formula in C2 returns "Red" because the fruit in A2 is "Apple" which matches the first case in SWITCH.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the SWITCH function return if the value matches the first case?

A The value for that case

B The default value

C An error

D The next case value

Key Result

SWITCH(expression, case1, value1, case2, value2, ..., default_value) returns the value matching the first case equal to expression or default_value if none match.