REPT Function in Excel (Formula, Example) | How to Use REPT Function?

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Excel REPT Function (Table of Contents)

REPT Function Excel
REPT Formula in Excel
How to use REPT Function in Excel?

REPT Function in Excel

It is a built-in function in MS Excel. It falls under the category of string or text functions in Excel. REPT Function in Excel is used to repeat the text a specified number of times.

REPT Formula in Excel

Below is the REPT Formula in Excel.

The REPT Function has two arguments out of which both are required. Where,

text = It is a required parameter. It is the text to be repeated.
number_of_times = It is also a required parameter. It is the number of times the text in the parameter-1 is to be repeated. It must be a positive number.

How to use REPT Function in Excel?

The REPT Function is a Worksheet (WS) function. As a WS function, REPT Function can be entered as a part of the formula in a cell of a worksheet. Refer to a couple of examples given below to know more.

REPT Function in Excel Worksheet

Let’s look at the REPT in Excel examples given below. Each example covers a different use case implemented using REPT function in Excel.

Excel REPT Function Example #1 – Repeat a set of characters

In above REPT Function example, REPT(“\n”,3) “\n” is said to be repeated 3 times. As a result, cell B2 contains “\n\n\n\”.

REPT Function Example #2 – Repeat a character

In above example, REPT (“-”,10) “-” is said to be repeated 10 times. As a result, cell C1 contains “———-”.

REPT Function Example #3 – Equalize the length of the numbers

In above example, column C contains a series of numbers from C3 to C7. The number of digits each cell contains is different. So, the use case is to make all the numbers of same length by adding zeros (0) in such a way that the value of the number doesn’t change but all the numbers become of the same length. Here, the length defined is 4. i.e. all the numbers should be of length 4. The formatted numbers are present in column D starting from D3 to D7. So, formatted number of C3 is present in D3, C4 in D4, C5 in D5, C6 in D6, C7 in D7, and so on. Each cell from D3 to D7 has a REPT Function applied on it.

Here, REPT function in excel is used to add leading or trailing zeros. Let’s analyze the REPT function in excel written in the formula bar.

=REPT(“0”,4-LEN(C3))&C3

As shown in the above REPT formula in Excel, “0” represents a digit / text to be repeated and the second parameter is the frequency with which zero is it to be repeated. Here, length of the number in C3 cell is deducted from number 4 which will give us the number of zeros to be repeated so to format the number in 4-digit format. E. g: If the length of the number present in C3 is 2, then 4-2=2 which is evaluated to: – REPT (“0”,2) meaning repeat 0 two times. Further, the resultant number is ended with the original value which here, is 12 and the result is 0012.

REPT Function Example #4– Create in-cell charts

In above example, column E contains a series of marks obtained out of 100 from E3 to E7. The marks obtained are to be represented in a pictorial format without using default Charts widget in Excel. This can be accomplished by using the REPT in Excel, as explained below.

Here the REPT formula in Excel used is =REPT(CHAR(110),E3*0.05).

All characters have ASCII code which is understood by the computer. Small case ‘n’ has code 110. So, =CHAR (110) in Excel returns ‘n’. When Wingdings font is applied on the same, it becomes a block displayed as – n.

Now, we have got the character to be repeated. Now, we must figure out how many times it is to be repeated. So, the REPT function in Excel applied to calculate the number of blocks is: – E3*0.05 meaning one block would represent 1/5^th part of the value. So, the number of blocks for marks 70 is shown as 3 repeated blocks in the result cell F3. Similar formula is repeated on the remaining values i.e. from E4 to E7 resulting into 4, 1, 2 and 5 blocks for marks 80, 20, 40 and 100 shown in the result cells F4, F5, F6, F7 respectively.

Things to Remember about REPT Function in Excel

The 2^nd parameter of the REPT function must be a positive number.
If it is 0 (zero), the REPT function returns “” i.e. an empty text.
If it is not an integer, it is truncated.
The result of the REPT function cannot be longer than 32,767 characters, else the REPT in Excel returns #VALUE! indicating an error with the value.

You can download this REPT Function in Excel template here – REPT Function Excel Template

REPT Function in Excel