How to reference a Excel cell in the same row by letter

Question

Example of data:

I have a IF function in Excel that I would like to work dynamically but am not sure how to reference another cell by letter in the same row.

This statement is in E4(Excel Function):

IF(C4=Drake, "True", "False")

But I would like to use this statement in all rows in E so instead of C4 I need 'Cx' so the function would work in E5 too.

Answer 1

Excel references are treated as relative by default when you copy/pate or fill, so if you copy that formula from cell E4 to cell E5, the formula will be updated to

IF(C5=Drake, "True", "False")

If you don't want the formula to be relative, then prepend the row or column (or both) with a $ .

For example, if your formula was

IF(C$4=Drake, "True", "False")

and you copied it from E4 to E5, the formula would stay

IF(C$4=Drake, "True", "False")

but if you copied it from E4 to F4, it would change to

IF(D$4=Drake, "True", "False")

Since the row is anchored but the column is not.

Answer 2

=IF(OFFSET($E4,0,-2) = "Drake",TRUE,FALSE)

Then Fill Down.

HTH