Can a VBA function in Excel return a range?

Question

I seem to be getting a type mismatch error when trying to do something like this:

In new workbook:

A1 B1 5  4  Function Test1() As Integer     Dim rg As Range     Set rg = Test2()     Test1 = rg.Cells(1, 1).Value End Function Function Test2() As Range     Dim rg As Range     Set rg = Range("A1:B1")     Test2 = rg End Function 

Adding =Test1() should return 5 but the code seems to terminate when returning a range from test2(). Is it possible to return a range?

Answer 1

A range is an object. Assigning objects requires the use of the SET keyword, and looks like you forgot one in your Test2 function:

Function Test1() As Integer     Dim rg As Range     Set rg = Test2()     Test1 = rg.Cells(1, 1).Value End Function  Function Test2() As Range     Dim rg As Range     Set rg = Range("A1:B1")     Set Test2 = rg         '<-- Don't forget the SET here' End Function 

Answer 2

You can also return a Variant() which represents an array of values. Here is an example for a function that reverses values from a range into a new range:

Public Function ReverseValues(ByRef r_values As Range) As Variant()     Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, N As Integer, M As Integer     Dim y() As Variant     N = r_values.Rows.Count     M = r_values.Columns.Count     y = r_values.value    'copy values from sheet into an array     'y now is a Variant(1 to N, 1 to M)      Dim t as Variant     For i = 1 To N / 2         For j = 1 To M             t = y(i, j)             y(i, j) = y(N - i + 1, j)             y(N - i + 1, j) = t         Next j     Next i      ReverseValues = y End Function 

In the worksheet you have to apply this function as an array formula (with Ctrl-Shift-Enter) with an appropriate number of cells selected. The details of the Swap() function are not important here.

Note that for many rows, this is very efficient. Doing the x = Range.Value and Range.Value = x operations when x is an array and the range contains multiple rows columns is many times faster than doing the operations one by one directly on the cells.