Determining the last non-empty cell in a column or row
This tip presents two useful VBA functions that can be used in worksheet formulas. LASTINCOLUMN returns the contents of the last non-empty cell in a column; LASTINROW returns the contents of the last non-empty cell in a row. Each function accepts a range as its single argument. The range argument can be a complete column (for LASTINCOLUMN) or a complete row (for LASTINROW). If the supplied argument is not a complete column or row, the function uses the column or row of the upper left cell in the range. For example, the following formula returns the last value in column B:
=LASTINCOLUMN(B5)
The formula below returns the last value in row 7:
=LASTINROW(C7:D9)
You'll find that these functions are quite fast, since they only examine the cells in the intersection of the specified column (or row) and the worksheet's used range.
The LASTINCOLUMN function
Function LASTINCOLUMN(rngInput As Range)
Dim WorkRange As Range
Dim i As Integer, CellCount As Integer
Application.Volatile
Set WorkRange = rngInput.Columns(1).EntireColumn
Set WorkRange = Intersect(WorkRange.Parent.UsedRange, WorkRange)
CellCount = WorkRange.Count
For i = CellCount To 1 Step -1
If Not IsEmpty(WorkRange(i)) Then
LASTINCOLUMN = WorkRange(i).Value
Exit Function
End If
Next i
End Function
The LASTINROW function
Function LASTINROW(rngInput As Range) As Variant
Dim WorkRange As Range
Dim i As Integer, CellCount As Integer
Application.Volatile
Set WorkRange = rngInput.Rows(1).EntireRow
Set WorkRange = Intersect(WorkRange.Parent.UsedRange, WorkRange)
CellCount = WorkRange.Count
For i = CellCount To 1 Step -1
If Not IsEmpty(WorkRange(i)) Then
LASTINROW = WorkRange(i).Value
Exit Function
End If
Next i
End Function