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How to Ignore #DIV/0! When Using Division in Excel

by Erma Khan

In Excel, if you attempt to divide a value by zero you will receive #DIV/0! as a result.

You can use the following basic syntax to perform division while ignoring #DIV/0! values:

=IFERROR(A2/B2, "")

In this particular formula, we attempt to divide the value in cell A2 by the value in cell B2. If B2 happens to be a zero, we simply return a blank as a result.

The following examples show how to use this syntax in practice.

Example: Ignore #DIV/0 When Using Division in Excel

Suppose we attempt to divide the values in column A by the values in column B in this particular Excel spreadsheet:

Notice that for each cell in column C where we attempt to divide by zero, we receive #DIV/0! as a result.

To ignore this error, we can type the following formula into cell C2:

=IFERROR(A2/B2, "")

We can then copy and paste this formula down to every remaining cell in column C:

Now for each cell in column C where we attempt to divide by zero, we simply receive a blank value as a result.

Note that we could also use the following formula to return a zero as a result instead:

=IFERROR(A2/B2, 0)

The following screenshot shows how to use this formula in practice:

Now for each cell in column C where we attempt to divide by zero, we simply receive a zero as a result.

Or we could even return a custom message when attempting to divide by zero:

=IFERROR(A2/B2, "Tried to divide by zero")

The following screenshot shows how to use this formula in practice:

Now for each cell in column C where we attempt to divide by zero, we simply receive “Tried to divide by zero” as a result.

Additional Resources

The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in Excel:

How to Ignore #N/A Values When Using Formulas in Excel
How to Replace #N/A Values in Excel
How to Easily Find Outliers in Excel

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