Calc Guide

Appendix C
Calc Error Codes
Copyright
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All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
Barbara Duprey
Jean Hollis Weber

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:
[email protected]

Acknowledgments
This appendix is based on Appendix C of the OpenOffice.org 3.3 Calc Guide. The contributors to
that appendix are:
Richard Barnes
Magnus Adielsson
Iain Roberts
Jean Hollis Weber

Publication date and software version

Published 17 June 2012. Based on LibreOffice 3.4.6.

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation

Contents
Copyright.............................................................................................................................. 2
Note for Mac users...............................................................................................................2
Introduction to Calc error codes........................................................................................ 4
Error codes displayed within cells.....................................................................................5
General error codes............................................................................................................. 6

Calc Error Codes 3

Introduction to Calc error codes
Calc provides feedback for errors of miscalculation, incorrect use of functions, invalid cell
references and values, and other user initiated mistakes. The feedback may be displayed within
the cell that contains the error (Figure 1) or on the status bar (Figure 2) or in both, depending on
the type of error. Generally speaking, if the error occurs in the cell that is selected (or contains the
cursor), the error message is displayed on the status bar.
As an example, Figure 1 shows the error code returned when a column is too narrow to display the
entire formatted date. The date displayed within the input line, 04/05/1998, would fit within the cell
without a problem, but the format used by the cell produces the date value Sunday, April 05, 1998.

Figure 1: Error codes displayed within cells

When the cell displaying the #REF error code in Figure 1 is selected, the status bar displays the
error message as shown in Figure 2. This message is more descriptive than the message
displayed in the cell, but it still may not provide enough information to correctly diagnose the
problem. For fuller explanations, consult the following tables and the Help topic, Error Codes in
LibreOffice Calc.

Figure 2: An error message displayed in the status bar.

This appendix presents error codes in two tables. This first table explains error messages which
are displayed within the cell that actually contains the error. Except in the case of the ### error,
they all correspond to a Calc error code number. The second table explains all of the error codes,
listed by code number, including those errors codes in the first table.

4 Calc Error Codes

Error codes displayed within cells
Cell error Code Explanation of the error
### N/A The column is too narrow to display the complete formatted
contents of the cell. This is not really an error value, so there is no
corresponding numerical error code. The solutions to this problem
are to increase the width of the column. or select Format → Cells →
Alignment and click either Wrap text automatically or Shrink to fit
cell size to make the text match the current column width.

Err502 502 Function argument is not valid, or more than one matching cell is
found by the DGET function.

#NUM! 503 A calculation resulted in an overflow of the defined value range.

#VALUE 519 The formula within the cell returns a value that does not correspond
to the definition of the formula or functions used. This error could
also mean that the cell referenced by the formula contains text
instead of a number.

#REF! 524 The formula within the cell uses a reference that does not exist.
Either a column or row description name could not be resolved, or
the column, row, or sheet that contains a referenced cell is missing.

#NAME? 525 An identifier could not be evaluated: no valid reference, no valid

domain name, no column/row label, no macro, incorrect decimal
divider, add-in not found. For example, entering in a cell
=sum(bob*5) where there is no cell named “bob” or containing the
text “bob” generates this error.

#DIV/0! 532 Division operator / if the denominator is 0.

Some more functions return this error; see next table for details.

Error codes displayed within cells 5

General error codes
The following table is an overview of the most common error messages for LibreOffice Calc.

Errors described as Internal errors should not be encountered by users under normal
Note conditions. Errors listed as Not used are not currently assigned to any error condition
and will not occur.

Code Message Explanation of the error

501 Invalid character Character in a formula is not valid. This error is the same as
the Invalid Name error (525) except that it occurs within a
formula. The cell containing the error will display the
#NAME? error reference.

502 Invalid argument Function argument is not valid; for example, a negative
number for the root function. This error also occurs if more
than one matching cell is found by the DGET function.

503 Invalid floating point Division by 0, or another calculation that results in an

operation (cell overflow of the defined value range (a value too big or too
displays #NUM!) small).

504 Parameter list error Function parameter is not valid; for example, text instead of
a number, or a domain reference instead of a cell reference.

505 Internal syntax error Not used.

506 Invalid semicolon Not used.

507 Pair missing Not used.

508 Pair missing Missing bracket or parenthesis; for example, closing

brackets but no opening brackets.

509 Missing operator Operator is missing; for example,

"=2(3+4) * ", where the operator between "2" and "(" is
missing.

510 Missing variable Variable is missing; for example, when two operators are
together "=1+*2".

511 Missing variable Function requires more variables than are provided; for
example, AND() and OR().

512 Formula overflow The total number of internal tokens (that is, operators,
variables, brackets) in the formula exceeds 512, or the total
number of matrices the formula creates exceeds 150. This
includes basic functions that receive too large an array as a
parameter.

513 String overflow An identifier in the formula exceeds 64 KB in size, or a result

of a string operation exceeds 64 KB in size.

514 Internal overflow Sort operation attempted on too much numerical data (max.
100000) or a calculation stack overflow.

6 Calc Error Codes

 Code Message Explanation of the error
515 Internal syntax error Not used.

516 Internal syntax error Matrix is expected on the calculation stack, but is not
available.

517 Internal syntax error Unknown error; for example, a document with a newer
function is loaded in an older version of Calc that does not
contain the function.

518 Internal syntax error Variable is not available.

519 No result (cell Formula yields a value that does not correspond to the
displays #VALUE) definition, or a cell that is referenced in the formula contains
text instead of a number.

520 Internal syntax error Compiler creates an unknown compiler code.

521 Internal syntax error No result.

522 Circular reference Formula refers directly or indirectly to itself and the
Iterations option is not selected under Tools → Options →
LibreOffice Calc → Calculate.

523 The calculation Financial statistics function missed a targeted value, or

procedure does not iterations of circular references do not reach the minimum
converge change within the maximum steps that are set.

524 Invalid references A column or row description name could not be resolved, or
(cell displays #REF!) the column, row, or sheet that contains a referenced cell is
missing.

525 Invalid names (cell An identifier could not be evaluated; for example, no valid
displays #NAME?) reference, no valid domain name, no column/row label, no
macro, incorrect decimal divider, add-in not found.

526 Internal syntax error Obsolete, no longer used, but could come from old
documents if the result is a formula from a domain.

527 Internal overflow References, such as when a cell references a cell, are too
encapsulated or deeply nested. This is an internal error and
should not be displayed in LibreOffice.

528– — Not used.

531

532 Division by zero Division operator / if the denominator is 0.

Some more functions return this error; for example:
VARP with less than 1 argument
STDEVP with less than 1 argument
VAR with less than 2 arguments
STDEV with less than 2 arguments
STANDARDIZE with stdev=0
NORMDIST with stdev=0

General error codes 7