CELL Function (LibreOffice Calc)

• Returns metadata about a cell
• Supports multiple info types (address, filename, format, width, protection, etc.)
• Useful for diagnostics and dynamic logic
• Works with direct references and reference‑returning formulas

It is designed to be flexible, metadata‑rich, and essential for advanced workflows.

CELL(info_type; reference)

Arguments

• info_type:
  A text keyword specifying the metadata to return.

• reference:
  A cell reference to inspect.

Unsupported types return Err:502.

Get the address of A1

=CELL("address"; A1)

Returns "$A$1".

Get the filename of the current document

=CELL("filename"; A1)

Get the column number

=CELL("col"; C5)

Returns 3.

Get the row number

=CELL("row"; C5)

Returns 5.

Get the contents of a cell

=CELL("contents"; A1)

Get the number format code

=CELL("format"; A1)

Detect if a cell is locked

=CELL("protect"; A1)

Useful for template protection logic.

Detect if a cell contains text vs number

=CELL("type"; A1)

Returns:

• "b" → blank
• "l" → label (text)
• "v" → value (number)

Get the sheet name from filename

=RIGHT(CELL("filename"; A1); LEN(CELL("filename"; A1)) - FIND("#"; CELL("filename"; A1)))

Build dynamic references using CELL + INDIRECT

=INDIRECT(CELL("address"; A1))

Detect negative‑number formatting

=CELL("color"; A1)

Returns 1 if negative numbers are formatted in color.

Get column width for layout logic

=CELL("width"; A1)

Use CELL to track active cell (Excel‑style behavior)

LibreOffice does not update CELL(“address”) based on active selection unless recalculated manually.

Use CELL to detect formatting changes

=CELL("format"; A1)

Useful for conditional formatting diagnostics.

CELL(“filename”) requires the file to be saved

Unsaved documents return an empty string.

CELL(“address”) always returns absolute references

"$A$1"  
"$C$5"

CELL(“type”) returns:

• "b" for blank
• "l" for text
• "v" for numbers

CELL(“contents”) returns the raw value

• Dates return serial numbers
• Times return fractional days
• Formulas return their result

CELL(“format”) returns internal format codes

These are not user‑friendly; they are engine‑level identifiers.

CELL does not auto‑update on selection change

Recalculate manually to refresh.

Unsupported info types return Err:502

LibreOffice supports fewer types than Excel.

• Use CELL for metadata‑driven automation
• Use CELL(“filename”) for document‑aware logic
• Use CELL(“type”) to distinguish text vs numbers
• Use CELL(“protect”) for template protection workflows
• Recalculate manually when using CELL in dashboards

• Use INFO for system‑level metadata
• Use TYPE for data‑type inspection
• Use ADDRESS and INDIRECT for dynamic references
• Use ROW and COLUMN for positional logic
• Use ISREF and ISERROR for validation

By mastering CELL and its companion functions, you can build metadata‑aware, dynamic, and highly automated spreadsheets in LibreOffice Calc.