OR Formula in Excel

OR Formula in Excel (Table of Contents)

• OR Formula in Excel
• How to Use OR Formula in Excel?

OR Formula in Excel

• MS Excel provides several logical inbuilt functions; one of them is the OR function, which is used to test multiple scenarios or conditions at the same time. As it is a Logical function, it will only return True or False. A user can use the OR function with other Logical functions also like AND, OR, XOR, etc.
• It will return true if any single argument or condition is true; else, it will return false. A user can test up to 255 arguments in the OR function.

Syntax of the ‘OR’ Function:

OR () – It will return a Boolean value which will be either true or false depending on the argument provided inside the or function.

The Argument in the Function:

• Logical1: It is a mandatory field, first condition, or logical value that a user wants to evaluate.
• Logical2: It is an optional field, it provided by the user which he wants to compare or test with other condition or logical value.

How to Use OR Formula in Excel?

OR Formula in Excel is very simple and easy. Let’s understand how to use the OR Formula in Excel with some examples.

Example 1

A user has A, B, and C conditions that he wants to evaluate in the OR function.

Let’s see how the ‘OR’ function can solve his problem to calculate.

• Open the MS Excel, Go to the Sheet where the user wants to execute his OR function.

• Create a Header Column with OR Result in the D column where we will execute the OR function.

• Now apply the OR function in the cell D2.

• Now it will ask for Logical1, which is available in the A column, then select the Value from the A2 cell.

• Now it will ask for Logical2, Logical2, … which is available in the B column and C column.
• Select Value from the B2 and C2 cells.

• Press on the Enter Button, and the result is shown below.

• Now Apply the Same Formula to Other Cells by just dragging the D2 formula till D5.

Summary of Example 1:

As the user wants to execute the OR function for different conditions, we have done in the above example.

As we can see, if a single condition is true, then we are getting True as the OR output that is row 3 to 5. If all condition is false, then only we are getting false as OR output that is row no 2.

Example 2

A User has a List of Student Score Card for Math and English, which he wants to evaluate for Pass and Fail, where he decides the minimum Score to Pass is 75 out of 100.

Let’s see how the ‘OR’ and ‘IF’ function can solve this problem to evaluate the Fail or Pass status of the student.

• Open MS Excel, Go to Sheet where the user wants to evaluate Fail or Pass Status of the Student.

• Create a header column with ‘OR Output With If’ in column E to execute the OR function.

• Now apply the IF Function in the cell E2.

• Add OR Function to check if in any subject student is scoring below 75.

• Now it will ask for Logical1, which is Math Score needs to compare against Passing Score 75. So, just compare Math Score, which is available in the B column.

• Now it will ask for Logical1, Logical2, … which is an English score which needs to be compared against passing score 75. So, just compare the English Score, which is available in Column C.

• It will then ask the value if it is True, so if the student fails, his scores will be below 75 in any subject.

• Now it will ask the value if it is False, and if the student is passed, his scores will be above or equal to 75 in all subjects.

• Press the Enter Button, and the result will be shown below.

• Now apply the same Formula to other Cells by just dragging the E2 formula till E9.

• Now to apply AND Formula with OR, we will create one Header in the F column and check if any student has passed in Math or Science or English.

• Now apply AND & OR function to the G column.

• After applying this formula, the result is shown below.

• Now apply the Same Formula to other Cells by just dragging the G2 formula till G4.

Summary of Example 2:

As the user wants to execute the OR and IF function for different conditions, we have done in the above example.

As we can see, if a single condition is true, then we are getting FAIL as the OR output that is row no 6, 8, 9, and 10. If all condition is false, then only we are getting PASS as the OR output that is row no 3, 4, 5 and 7.

Example 3

A user has a list of Student Score Card for Science and English, which he wants to evaluate for FALSE and TRUE, where he decides the minimum pass score to pass is 33 out of 100.

Let’s see how the ‘XOR’ function can solve his problem to calculate.

• Open the MS Excel, go to sheet3 where the user wants to execute his OR function.

• Create a header column with XOR Result in the E column where we will execute the XOR function.

• Now apply the XOR function in the cell E2.

• Press on the Enter Button and see the result below.

• Now apply the Same Formula to other Cells by just dragging the E2 formula till E4.

Summary of Example 3: As the user wants to execute the XOR function for different conditions, we have done in the above example.

The XOR formula is Exclusive OR, where an odd number of conditions or True otherwise will always return False.

Things to Remember About OR Formula in Excel

1. The OR function will return true if any single argument or condition is true; else, it will return false.
2. A user can test up to 255 arguments in the OR function.
3. If there is no logical value coming as an argument, then it will throw an error #VALUE.
4. A user can use the OR function with other Logical functions also like AND, OR, XOR, etc.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to OR Formula in Excel. Here we discuss How to use OR Formula in Excel along with practical examples and a downloadable excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

1. OR Excel Function
2. VBA OR
3. Logical Functions in Excel
4. Excel IF AND Function