OR

What it does

OR checks two or more tests and returns TRUE if any of them is TRUE. It returns FALSE only when all of them are FALSE.

Syntax

=OR(logical1; [logical2]; …)

Arguments in square brackets are optional, and … means you can add more of the same. In this Excel language, arguments are separated by ;

Arguments

logical

A test that gives TRUE or FALSE. Add as many as you need.

Example

Is the day in A2 part of the weekend?

The formula in B2:

=OR(A2="Saturday";A2="Sunday")

Result: TRUE

A2 holds Sunday. The first test (Saturday) is FALSE and the second (Sunday) is TRUE, and one TRUE is enough.

Common mistakes

• Writing OR between two tests, as in a sentence. Excel has no such operator; put the tests inside OR, separated like any other arguments.
• Using OR when every condition must hold. That's AND.

In other Excel languages

Excel translates function names, and in some languages the argument separator too. Type the name your Excel shows.

Practise it

• AND, OR, NOT and XORModule 4 · Logic
• IF with AND and ORModule 4 · Logic
• Rules with several conditionsModule 12 · Conditional formatting formulas

More from this module

• IF
• IFS
• SWITCH
• AND
• NOT
• XOR
• ISNUMBER
• ISTEXT
• ISBLANK
• ISERROR
• IFERROR

All functions