HyperFormula (v2.7.0)

# Types of values

In HyperFormula, values can be of type Number, Text, Logical, Date, Time, DateTime, Error, Duration, Currency, or Percentage depending on the data. Functions may work differently based on the types of arguments.

Type of value Description
Number A numeric value such as 0, 2, -40, 0.1, and also scientific notation e.g. 5.6E+01; with a period as a default decimal separator.
Text (string) A text value, like "ABC", "apollo".
Logical (Distinct Boolean) A logical value might be one of two values: TRUE or FALSE. Please note that even if there is type coercion this will be recognized as TRUE/FALSE when comparing to numbers. It will not be recognized as 1 or 0.
Date A Gregorian calendar date in DD/MM/YYYY (default format), like 22/06/2022. All dates from 30/12/1899 to 31/12/9999 are supported.
Time A time in hh:mm:ss or hh:mm (default format), like 10:40:16.
DateTime Date and Time types combined into one, like 22/06/2022 10:40:16.
Error An error returned as a result of formula calculation, like #REF!
Duration A time-based amount of time
Currency Number representing currency
Percentage Number representing percentage

# Date and time values

For better compatibility with other spreadsheet software, HyperFormula stores date and time values as numbers. This makes it easier to perform mathematical operations such as calculating the number of days between two dates.

  • A Date value is represented as the number of full days since nullDate.
  • A Time value is represented as a fraction of a full day.
  • A DateTime value is represented as the number of (possibly fractional) days since nullDate.

# Forcing the string value type

Like most spreadsheet software, HyperFormula automatically detects the type of an input value.

But sometimes the value should be treated as a string even though it's parsable as a formula, number, date, time, datetime, boolean, currency or percentage. Typical examples are numeric values with no number semantics, such as ZIP codes, bank sort codes, social security numbers, etc.

To prevent the automatic type conversion, prepend the string value with an apostrophe (').

const hf = HyperFormula.buildFromArray([
    ["11201"], // a number: 11201
    ["'11201"], // a string: "11201"
    ["22/06/2022"], // a date: June 22nd 2022
    ["'22/06/2022"], // a string: "22/06/2022"
]);

// a formula: SUM(B1,B2)
hf.setCellContents({ col: 0, row: 4, sheet: 0 }, [["=SUM(B1,B2)"]]);

// a string: "=SUM(B1,B2)"
hf.setCellContents({ col: 0, row: 5, sheet: 0 }, [["'=SUM(B1,B2)"]]);

# Getting cell type

Cells have types that can be retrieved by using the getCellType method. Cell content is not calculated and the method returns only the type, so, for example, you can check if there is a formula inside a cell. Here is the list of possible cell types: 'FORMULA', 'VALUE', 'ARRAY', 'EMPTY, ARRAYFORMULA.

# Getting cell value type

You can also use the getCellValueType method which returns the calculated value type, so a cell's value for the formula: '=SUM(1, 2, 3)' will be 'NUMBER'. Here is the list of possible cell value types: 'NUMBER', 'STRING', 'BOOLEAN', 'ERROR', 'EMPTY'.

# Getting detailed cell value type

Currently, number type contains several subtypes (date, time, datetime, currency, percentage), that can be used interchangeably with numbers in computation. We keep track of those, so e.g. if a function produces currency-type output, and later the value is used in arithmetic operations, the output of those is as well-marked as currency-type. Info about those can be extracted via getCellValueDetailedType function. Auxiliary information about formatting (if there is any) is available via getCellValueFormat function. In case of currency, it would be the currency symbol used when parsing the currency (e.g. '$').

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