COLUMN Function in Excel: Column Number of a Cell

⏱ 1 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

LookupLevel: BeginnerAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. Related functions

COLUMN returns the column number (A = 1). Handy for VLOOKUP formulas that fill across.

Syntax

=COLUMN([reference])
Argument What it means
reference Optional.

Examples

Example 1

=VLOOKUP($A2, Data!$A:$M, COLUMN(B1), FALSE)

Fill right to pull columns 2, 3, 4… without editing each formula.

COLUMNS · ROW · MATCH

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