Array Constant

An array constant in Excel is an expression representing a collection of one or more values arranged into a table. They are limited to containing text, numeric, logical and error literal values and as such are not permitted to contain any references to either functions or cells.

An array-constant declaration consists of an opening brace, one or more comma-delimited lists of values each representing a row of values and a closing brace. If an array constant contains more than one row then, with the exception of the final row, the end of one and the beginning of another is denoted by a semicolon. Each row must contain the same number of values.

Consider a cell containing the following array-constant declaration which places 9 values in a 3×3 table. The parts of it representing rows 1,2 and 3 have been highlighted in orange, pink and purple respectively; values are separated by commas and rows by semicolons.

={"a",1,TRUE;2,"b",#VALUE!;"c",3,FALSE}