Select Case Statement in Excel VBA

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Excel VBA: Select Case Statement in Excel VBA Macro Code. No More Multiple If/Else Statements

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One of the best methods for multiple conditions is the Select Case Statement. It does away with the need for multiple If Statements which can make Excel VBA code very hard to read and decipher. The Select Case Statement has a syntax of:

Select Case < Expression to test>
    Case 
      Do something
    Case Else
      Do something else
End Select

As you can see the Select Case Statement is very similar to the If Statement in that it will only perform some action if/when a condition is met. However, as you will learn, the Select Case is far more flexible. Let's look at the "Select Case" Statement in it's simplest form.

Sub TheSelectCase1()
    Select Case Range("A1").Value
          Case 100
              Range("B1") = 50
    End Select
End Sub

Now let us say you need to perform any one of 5 actions depending on the Value of Range A1. If so we could use;

Sub TheSelectCase2()
    Select Case Range("A1").Value
          Case 100
              Range("B1").Value = 50
          Case 150
              Range("B1").Value = 40
          Case 200
              Range("B1").Value = 30
          Case 350
              Range("B1").Value = 20
          Case 400
              Range("B1").Value = 10
    End Select
End Sub

This, in my opinion, is a far better structure and easier to read than an If Statement with multiple ElseIf Statements. If none of the above Conditions were met, nothing would occur, unless we use the optional Case Else Statement, like:

Sub TheSelectCase3()
    Select Case Range("A1").Value
          Case 100
              Range("B1").Value = 50
          Case 150
              Range("B1").Value = 40
          Case 200
              Range("B1").Value = 30
          Case 350
              Range("B1").Value = 20
          Case 400
              Range("B1").Value = 10
          Case Else
              Range("B1").Value = 0
    End Select
End Sub

So if the value of range A1 is NOT 100,150,200,350 or 400 then place a Value of 0 (zero) in Range B1.

Now while this demonstrates how we can check multiple conditions with the Select Case Statement, what if we want to perform some action if the Range A1 is equal to any one of the Values 100,150,200,350 or 400. If this is the case (no pun intended) we could use:

Sub TheSelectCase4()
    Select Case Range("A1").Value
          Case 100, 150, 200, 350, 400
              Range("B1").Value = Range("A1").Value
          Case Else
              Range("B1").Value = 0
    End Select
End Sub

Let's assume that you only want to perform some action if the range(s) you are checking are between 2 numbers. If this is the case (excuse the pun) then you could use:

Sub TheSelectCase5()
    Select Case Range("A1").Value
        Case 100 To 500
             Range("B1").Value = Range("A1").Value
        Case Else
             Range("B1").Value = 0
      End Select
End Sub

In this instance, if the range A1 contains a number => 100 and =< 500 then cell A1 value will be placed into cell B1.

Now, what about if we needed to check if cell A1 was not only between 100 and 500 but also between 700 and 1000, 1500 and 2000? No problem, with the Select Case you would simply use:

Sub TheSelectCase6()
    Select Case Range("A1").Value
        Case 100 To 500, 700 To 1000, 1500 To 2000
             Range("B1").Value = Range("A1").Value
       Case Else
             Range("B1").Value = 0
     End Select
End Sub

In other words if cell A1 contains a number (eg 600) that does not meet the Case criteria, B1 will equal 0. By-the-way, the limit using a Select Case like this is far from 3 criteria! You can also mix and match the criteria you use in a Select Case Statement, so if you wanted to include some text and/or specific numbers you could use:

Sub TheSelectCase()
    Select Case Range("A1").Value
           Case 100 To 500, 652, 700 To 1000, 1233, 1500 To 2000, "dog", "cat"
                 Range("B1").Value = Range("A1").Value
           Case Else
                 Range("B1").Value = 0
     End Select
End Sub

Select Case Knows its Alphabet

The last benefit we will look at with the Select Case Statement is how we can use it on text and determine if it lies between other text in an alphabetical sense

Sub TheSelectCase7()
    Select Case Range("A1").Text
          Case "aardvark" To "elephant"
                 Range("B1").Value = "it's between"
          Case Else
                 Range("B1").Value = "it's not between"
         End Select
End Sub

What this example will do is check whether the Text in cell A1 falls between "aardvark" and "elephant" in an alphabetic list. So if A1 had the text "zebra" B1 would equal "it's not between", however if it contained "cat" B1 would equal "it's between". One point that should be made here is that, by default, VBA code like this, is case sensitive (Binary). So if cell A1 had the text "Cat" as apposed to "cat" B1 would equal "it's not between". This because the internal binary representations of the characters in Windows are seen in a table something like:
A < B < E < Z < a < b < e < z < À < Ê < Ø < à < ê < ø

This can at times cause unexpected results, but like most parts of Excel we can change this. See Stop Case Sensitivity in Excel VBA

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