Any syntax to shorten really long IF(formula-test , value-if-true , result of formula) cells?

[d0rian]

I find myself using the following syntax quite a bit, which is resulting in really long text strings that contain a lot of duplicative text...thinking there's got to be a way to shorten them:

Let's say column C has a really-long-formula, but I decide that if the result of the formula is negative, I simply want it to return 0. So what I've been doing for ages is modifying the formula to:
=IF((really-long-formula)<0 , 0 , really-long-formula)

When the formula's REALLY long, it seems really inefficient to make me type out the whole thing twice (and makes troubleshooting a PITA). Is there a better syntax I can use that will only require me to include the really long string once?

 

[Marcelo Branco]

Maybe something like

=MAX(0,really-long-formula)

Hope this helps

M.

 

[d0rian]

Yeah, that would work for this particular example, but I just made it up for ease of understanding; usually that "value-if-true" value is more complicated, sometimes a formula in its own right. I was just hoping there was an Excel formula / syntax I'm unaware of, because usually I find that any time there's a truly duplicative instance, like in my OP, there's a more efficient way to be doing things...

 

[bbott]

Can you post the formula that you're using now?

 

[d0rian]

I mean, I could go find an old spreadsheet where I've used this syntax and paste it here, but I'm not looking to solve for just a single permutation of it -- this is a Q I've been meaning to ask for a long time, since it seems to crop up with nearly every excel model I build.

 

[bbott]

It's going to be difficult to improve on something that no one can see. There are a lot of ways around IF statements, but it all depends on what you're trying to accomplish.