SWITCH Function in Excel (cleaner than nested IF)

Excel 2019 and later.

Syntax

=SWITCH(expression, value1, result1, [value2, result2], ..., [default])

Example

=SWITCH(A2,"N","North","S","South","E","East","W","West","Unknown")

A2 is checked once against each value. The last lone argument is the default when nothing matches — leave it out and you get #N/A.

Same thing with IF

=IF(A2="N","North",IF(A2="S","South",IF(A2="E","East",IF(A2="W","West","Unknown"))))

SWITCH is shorter and easier to check.

Day names from numbers

=SWITCH(WEEKDAY(A2),1,"Sun",7,"Sat","Weekday")

See WEEKDAY.

Ranges (greater than / less than)

SWITCH only tests “equals”. The trick is to switch on TRUE:

=SWITCH(TRUE,B2>=90,"A",B2>=75,"B",B2>=50,"C","D")

IFS does the same and reads more naturally.

SWITCH, IFS or a lookup?

• A few fixed codes → SWITCH.
• Ranges → IFS.
• Lots of codes or ones that change → a small table and XLOOKUP.

Also: CHOOSE for 1, 2, 3 positions.