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SEQUENCE Function (LibreOffice Calc)

Array Intermediate LibreOffice Calc LibreOffice 24.8

Build LibreOffice SEQUENCE arrays with row-major ordering, decreasing or fractional steps, and exact component checks from a named development build.

Verification status: Eight SEQUENCE component, dimension or sum expressions were recalculated in LibreOfficeDev 26.8.0.0.alpha0 using headless XLSX import. Exact identities, values and controls were checked. Complete implementation unavailable; GUI entry, stable releases and 26.8.1.1 execution remain untested. How formula examples are checked

Quick answer: SEQUENCE(3;3;10;11) describes the numbers 10 through 98 in steps of 11, filling each row from left to right. The tested development build returned 65 for its row-2, column-3 component.

Availability and version history

  • Introduced: LibreOffice 24.8, explicitly stated in function-specific Help.
  • Supported in: 26.8 Help and 26.8.1.1 registration; no retirement is established.
  • Scope: Desktop Calc with English semicolon-separated formulas. The documented COM.MICROSOFT.SEQUENCE namespace is outside OpenFormula 1.3.
  • Checked: October 14, 2026. Eight listed scalar-returning expressions were recalculated in LibreOfficeDev 26.8.0.0.alpha0 via headless XLSX import. GUI entry, stable releases and 26.8.1.1 execution remain untested.

What SEQUENCE does

SEQUENCE constructs a rectangular arithmetic progression. Rows controls the height and Columns the width. Start supplies the first entry; Step is the increment from one entry to the next, including the transition from the end of a row to the beginning of the next. The sequence is deterministic, unlike a random-number array.

The tests below select components, dimensions or an aggregate from the array. They do not demonstrate interactive array entry, automatic spilling or a whole-array display in the GUI. The complete ScMatSequence implementation was unavailable in the retained source, so implementation-level error guards are not claimed. Function Help.

Syntax and arguments

SEQUENCE(Rows; Columns [; Start [; Step]])

Square brackets mark optional trailing arguments; do not type them. Use positive integer Rows and Columns. Function-specific Help gives Start=1 and Step=1 when those trailing arguments are omitted. Negative, zero and fractional steps are separately illustrated below. The retained function registry marks Columns optional, while Help’s displayed syntax supplies it. This guide supplies Columns explicitly in every example; omitted-column runtime behavior remains unchecked.

Worksheet setup

The documented SEQUENCE(3;3;10;11) layout is:

Row Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
1 10 21 32
2 43 54 65
3 76 87 98

This complete layout is an independent arithmetic reconstruction. The native tests select the listed individual results, rather than recording a GUI spill of the whole table.

Worked formula checks

The two numerical columns separate exact arithmetic references from the eight saved development-build results. Each expression returns a scalar even when it uses an array internally.

Formula Independent reference LibreOfficeDev result
=INDEX(SEQUENCE(3;3;10;11);1;1) 10 10
=INDEX(SEQUENCE(3;3;10;11);2;3) 65 65
=INDEX(SEQUENCE(3;3;10;11);3;3) 98 98
=ROWS(SEQUENCE(4;2)) 4 4
=COLUMNS(SEQUENCE(4;2)) 2 2
=INDEX(SEQUENCE(3;2;10;-2);3;2) 0 0
=SUM(SEQUENCE(2;3;5;0)) 30 30
=INDEX(SEQUENCE(2;2;0.5;0.25);2;1) 1 1

Practical use

To describe three rows and three columns, use =SEQUENCE(3;3;10;11). Help instructs array-formula entry when both dimensions exceed 1. Follow the array-entry procedure for your Calc interface; do not type the displayed braces as ordinary formula characters. The saved test path used nested INDEX, ROWS, COLUMNS and SUM expressions instead.

For a decreasing series, SEQUENCE(3;2;10;-2) describes rows [10,8], [6,4] and [2,0]. Its last component is zero. With a zero step, SEQUENCE(2;3;5;0) describes six copies of 5, whose mathematical sum is 30; that SUM expression was executed.

Advanced interpretation and checks

For one-based row r and column c, the arithmetic position is (r-1)*Columns+(c-1). Multiply that position by Step and add Start. For row 2, column 3 of the three-column example, the position is 5, so 10+5×11=65. This formula explains why each new row continues the progression instead of restarting it.

For n=Rows×Columns entries, the independent arithmetic total is n*(2*Start+(n-1)*Step)/2. The nine-entry 10-to-98 example totals 486. That total is a mathematical check, not an additional recorded native SUM case. Fractional increments can also work: the selected quarter-step example returns exactly 1 at row 2, column 1. Arbitrary decimal steps can accumulate floating-point rounding and should not be presented as exact decimal arithmetic.

Boundaries and troubleshooting

Keep dimensions small, positive and integral. Help restricts both dimensions to positive integers, but no invalid-size, resource-limit, Boolean-conversion or missing-argument case was executed. The registration confirms the function identity and argument metadata; it is not a substitute for the missing complete implementation.

Help warns that changing cells referenced by Rows or Columns does not automatically resize an existing array formula. It says to delete and re-enter that array formula. No GUI resizing or stable-release behavior was tested here. The execution scope is exactly the named development build and the eight listed scalar-returning expressions.

ROWS, COLUMNS, INDEX.

Official evidence and checking scope

The saved application is LibreOfficeDev 26.8.0.0.alpha0, build 2c87e51eeaa2b413ff4ae097b2705eea1995d8e5, on Linux. Both a deliberately stale cached control and an uncached control recalculated correctly. The complete SEQUENCE implementation was unavailable; documentation, identity registration and these eight actual results support the stated scope.