CHOOSE Function (LibreOffice Calc)

• Selects a value from a list based on an index
• Works with numbers, text, ranges, and expressions
• Useful for dynamic outputs and compact logic
• Often used with MATCH, WEEKDAY, or other index‑producing functions

CHOOSE(index; value1; value2; value3; ...)

Arguments

• index:
  A number indicating which value to return (1 = first value).

• value1, value2, …:
  The list of values to choose from.

Simple selection

=CHOOSE(2; "Red"; "Green"; "Blue")
→ "Green"

Using a cell reference

=CHOOSE(A1; "Low"; "Medium"; "High")

With numbers

=CHOOSE(3; 10; 20; 30)
→ 30

Combine with WEEKDAY

=CHOOSE(WEEKDAY(A1); "Sun"; "Mon"; "Tue"; "Wed"; "Thu"; "Fri"; "Sat")

Combine with MATCH for dynamic lookup

=CHOOSE(MATCH(A1; {"A";"B";"C"}; 0); 100; 200; 300)

Use ranges as return values

=SUM(CHOOSE(2; A1:A5; B1:B5; C1:C5))

Use expressions inside CHOOSE

=CHOOSE(A1; A2*2; A2*3; A2*4)

Create a compact SWITCH‑like structure

=CHOOSE(A1; "North"; "South"; "East"; "West")

Dynamic formatting selection

=TEXT(A1; CHOOSE(B1; "0.00"; "#,##0"; "0%"))

CHOOSE is 1‑based, not 0‑based

• Index = 1 → first value
• Index = 2 → second value
• Index = 0 → Err:502
• Index > number of values → Err:502

Accepts:

• Numbers
• Text
• Ranges
• Expressions

Behavior details

• Index is truncated if decimal (e.g., 2.9 → 2)
• If index is text → Err:502
• If index is an error → error propagates

• Use CHOOSE for small, fixed lists
• Use INDEX for large or dynamic lists
• Combine with MATCH for flexible lookups
• Use CHOOSE for compact conditional logic
• Use CHOOSECOLS / CHOOSEROWS for array‑based selection

• CHOOSECOLS / CHOOSEROWS — array‑based selection
• INDEX + MATCH — scalable lookup pattern
• SWITCH (in other spreadsheet apps) — multi‑branch logic
• IF / IFS — conditional branching

By mastering CHOOSE, you can build clean, compact, and dynamic lookup logic in LibreOffice Calc.