Assign integer value to a string of characters(a word)

[Guanjin Peter]

let's say cell a1 contains either the word: Leave OR HalfDay

cell b2 takes the value from a1 and divide by 2. ----------- b2=(a1/2)
can I assign
leave=1
halfDay=0.5


so if a1 contains the word leave, b2 will be 0.5
if a1 contains the word Half-day, b2 will be 0.25

 

[mikerickson]

A double IF should work
=IF(A1="leave",.5,IF(A1="Half-day",.25,"other word"))

 

[hkaplan2]

If you have many categories (i.e Leave, HalfDay, Sick, Vacation, etc) then I would use vlookup. Create a table like below:

Column1 Column2
Leave .5
HalfDay .25
Sick 1
Vacation 1

Highlight the table and name the range (i.e. leavetable).

Then use the formula =vlookup(A1,leavetable,2). If you only have a few names, then nested If works fine, but gets confusing when you try to nest several if statements.

 

[Guanjin Peter]

w0w thanks. #2 is sure an interesting solution...