ISBLANK checks whether a cell has no content. It returns TRUE for a genuinely empty cell and FALSE for a cell containing a value or formula.
A cell can look empty without being blank. Spaces and formulas returning an empty string still count as content, which matters when checking whether someone has supplied a required detail.
ISBLANK function syntax
=ISBLANK(value)- value: the cell reference or expression to test.
The Google ISBLANK reference describes the function arguments.
Example data
Enter this dataset starting in A1. Leave cells marked “leave empty” empty; type any displayed formula as a formula. Keep a separate blank area for the results.
| Case | Value |
|---|---|
| Empty | (leave empty) |
| Space | (one space) |
| Zero | 0 |
| Empty formula | =”” |
| Text | Ready |
| Error | =NA() |
The examples below use this dataset unless the formula supplies its own values. Array results need enough empty cells to expand. The formulas use commas as argument separators. Your spreadsheet locale may require semicolons.
Test an empty cell
B2 has no value or formula, so ISBLANK returns TRUE.
=ISBLANK(B2)Result: TRUE
Distinguish blank-looking content
A single space is text content, so this result is FALSE.
=ISBLANK(B3)Result: FALSE
Zero is a number, not a blank cell.
=ISBLANK(B4)Result: FALSE
The formula in B5 returns empty text, but the cell still contains a formula. ISBLANK therefore returns FALSE.
=ISBLANK(B5)Result: FALSE
Treat empty text as missing when appropriate
An equality comparison with “” returns TRUE for this empty-string result. This is useful when your rule should treat both an empty cell and empty text as missing.
=B5=""Result: TRUE
Return a readable completion label
IF turns the blank test into Missing or Provided.
=IF(ISBLANK(B2),"Missing","Provided")Result: Missing
The text Ready is present, so the required-detail check returns Complete.
=IF(ISBLANK(B6),"Incomplete","Complete")Result: Complete
Check a range of cells
ARRAYFORMULA produces one TRUE or FALSE result per source cell. Only the genuinely empty B2 returns TRUE.
=ARRAYFORMULA(ISBLANK(B2:B7))| TRUE |
| FALSE |
| FALSE |
| FALSE |
| FALSE |
| FALSE |
Recognize an error as content
B7 contains an error-producing formula, so ISBLANK returns FALSE. A nonblank result does not guarantee that the content is valid.
=ISBLANK(B7)Result: FALSE
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