COLON Operator (:) - Excel

Overview

The Colon operator (:) in Excel is a useful tool for creating references to a range of cells. This operator allows users to simplify the referencing of contiguous cells, making it easier to specify a range of cells in a formula, function, or data selection.

Syntax:

=StartCell:EndCell

StartCell and EndCell are references to the beginning and end of the range

Example: SUM Function

In this example, the Colon operator is helping us create a range that spans from cell C2 to cell C11 so that we can add up all of those values easily in the SUM Function.

An example of the SUM function in Excel

Example:

=SUM(C2:C11)