OR Function in Excel: TRUE When Any Condition Is Met

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LogicalLevel: BeginnerAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article

1. Syntax
2. Examples
3. Example 1
4. Example 2
5. Power combo
6. OR in practice
7. Where you will use it
8. Worked example
9. Mistakes people make
10. Related functions
11. Continue learning

OR returns TRUE if at least one condition is TRUE.

Syntax

=OR(logical1, [logical2], ...)

Argument	What it means
logical1…	Conditions to test.

Examples

Example 1

=OR(E2="Delhi", E2="Mumbai", E2="Bengaluru")

Is the city a metro?

Example 2

=IF(OR(WEEKDAY(A2,2)>5, COUNTIF(Holidays,A2)), "Off", "Working")

Weekend or listed holiday.

Power combo

=OR(E2={"Delhi","Mumbai","Bengaluru"})

An array constant keeps long OR lists short.

OR in practice

Where you will use it

• Priority if customer is Gold OR order > Rs 5 lakh
• Flag rows missing any of several fields
• Allow multiple valid statuses

Worked example

Tier	Order	Formula	Result
Gold	120000	=OR(A2="Gold",B2>500000)	TRUE
Silver	650000	=OR(A3="Gold",B3>500000)	TRUE
Silver	90000	=OR(A4="Gold",B4>500000)	FALSE

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

Mistake	What to do instead
Writing =A2="Gold" OR B2>5	Use OR(...) or add conditions: (cond1)+(cond2)>0
Many values for one cell	Use OR(A2={"N","E"}) or COUNTIF

Related functions

AND · NOT · IF

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📎 Practice files for this article

• 📗
  Practice workbook: Logic, LET & LAMBDA17 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
  ⬇ XLSX · 35 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.