Range Object

Remarks

The following properties and methods for returning a Range object are described in the examples section:

• Range property
• Cells property
• Range and Cells
• Offset property
• Union method

Example

Use Range(

Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A5").Value = _
    Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").Value

The following example fills the range A1:H8 with random numbers by setting the formula for each cell in the range. When it’s used without an object qualifier (an object to the left of the period), the Range property returns a range on the active sheet. If the active sheet isn’t a worksheet, the method fails. Use the Activate method to activate a worksheet before you use the Range property without an explicit object qualifier.

Worksheets("Sheet1").Activate
Range("A1:H8").Formula = "=Rand()"    'Range is on the active sheet

The following example clears the contents of the range named Criteria.

Note
If you use a text argument for the range address, you must specify the address in A1-style notation (you cannot use R1C1-style notation).

Worksheets(1).Range("Criteria").ClearContents

Use Cells(

Worksheets(1).Cells(1, 1).Value = 24

The following example sets the formula for cell A2.

ActiveSheet.Cells(2, 1).Formula = "=Sum(B1:B5)"

Although you can also use Range("A1") to return cell A1, there may be times when the Cells property is more convenient because you can use a variable for the row or column. The following example creates column and row headings on Sheet1. Notice that after the worksheet has been activated, the Cells property can be used without an explicit sheet declaration (it returns a cell on the active sheet).

Note
Although you could use Visual Basic string functions to alter A1-style references, it's much easier (and much better programming practice) to use the Cells(1, 1) notation.

Sub SetUpTable()
Worksheets("Sheet1").Activate
For TheYear = 1 To 5
    Cells(1, TheYear + 1).Value = 1990 + TheYear
Next TheYear
For TheQuarter = 1 To 4
    Cells(TheQuarter + 1, 1).Value = "Q" & TheQuarter
Next TheQuarter
End Sub

Use

Worksheets(1).Range("C5:C10").Cells(1, 1).Formula = "=Rand()"

Use Range(

Note
Notice the period in front of each occurrence of the Cells property. The period is required if the result of the preceding With statement is to be applied to the Cells property — in this case, to indicate that the cells are on worksheet one (without the period, the Cells property would return cells on the active sheet).

With Worksheets(1)
    .Range(.Cells(1, 1), _
        .Cells(10, 10)).Borders.LineStyle = xlThick
End With

Use Offset(

Worksheets("Sheet1").Activate
  'Can't select unless the sheet is active
Selection.Offset(3, 1).Range("A1").Select

Use Union(

Dim r1 As Range, r2 As Range, myMultiAreaRange As Range
Worksheets("sheet1").Activate
Set r1 = Range("A1:B2")
Set r2 = Range("C3:D4")
Set myMultiAreaRange = Union(r1, r2)
myMultiAreaRange.Select

If you work with selections that contain more than one area, the Areas property is very useful. It divides a multiple-area selection into individual Range objects and then returns the objects as a collection. You can use the Count property on the returned collection to check for a selection that contains more than one area, as shown in the following example.

Sub NoMultiAreaSelection()
    NumberOfSelectedAreas = Selection.Areas.Count
    If NumberOfSelectedAreas > 1 Then
        MsgBox "You cannot carry out this command " & _
            "on multi-area selections"
    End If
End Sub

Reference
Using Defined Names