Using For Each in Excel range

As the image above shows - taken from the Excel VBA menu-(download here...), there are many ways one can specify ranges to loop through. In this article several ways are discussed to do this.

• For Each cell in a range
• Loop through the cells in a row
• Loop through the cells in a column
• Loop through the columns in a range
• Loop through the rows in a range
• Loop through the areas in a range

For Each cell in a range

One of the most common things you will do when programming VBA in Excel is looping though a collection of cells in a specified range, as in the example below which prints the Address and Value of 4 cells on the 'Data' worksheet to the immediate window:

$B$2:a, $C$2:b, $B$3:1, $C$3:2

.

Dim rng As Range: Set rng = Application.Range("Data!B2:C3")
Dim cel As Range
For Each cel In rng.Cells
    With cel
        Debug.Print .Address & ":" & .Value
    End With
Next cel

Loop through the cells in a row

The code below shows how to loop through the cells in the row with RowIndex:=2. Applied to the data in the sheet on the right this will return

1, 2

. From this we see that rows are counted from the starting point of rng, so the row is 3 on the worksheet, 2 inside rng. Also, only cells inside the set range rng are taken.

Dim rng As Range: Set rng = Application.Range("Data!B2:C3")
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 To rng.Rows.Count
    Debug.Print rng.Cells(RowIndex:=2, ColumnIndex:=i).Value
Next

Loop through the cells in a column

The code below shows how to loop through the cells in the column with ColumnIndex:=B. Applied to the data in the sheet on the right this will return

a, 1, 2

. From this we see that columns are counted from the starting point of rng, so the column is C on the worksheet, B inside rng. Also, only cells inside the set range rng are taken.

Dim rng As Range: Set rng = 
Dim i As Integer
For i = 1 To rng.Rows.Count
    Debug.Print rng.Cells(RowIndex:=i, ColumnIndex:="B").Value
Next

Loop through the columns in a range

The code below shows how to loop through the columns in the Range B2:C4. Applied to the data in the sheet on the right this will return

2, 3

. From this we see that columns are counted from the starting point of the worksheet.

Dim rng As Range: Set rng = Application.Range("B2:C4")
Dim col As Range
For Each col In rng.Columns
    Debug.Print col.Column
Next col

Loop through the rows in a range

The code below shows how to loop through the rows in the Range B2:C4. Applied to the data in the sheet on the right this will return

2, 3, 4

. From this we see that rows are counted from the starting point of the worksheet.

Dim rng As Range: Set rng = Application.Range("B2:C4")
Dim col As Range
For Each col In rng.Rows
    Debug.Print col.Row
Next col

Loop through the areas in a range

Often we assume a range to have a rectangular shape, but this need not be the case. The example sheet on the right shows a selection containing two areas: Selection.Address returns

$B$2:$C$3,$F$2:$F$3

. Such a situation may also occur as a result of the Intersect method, or other causes. To handle the two ranges separately can can pick then from the Areas collection:

Dim rng As Range: Set rng = Application.Selection
Dim rngArea As Range
For Each rngArea In rng.Areas
    Debug.Print rngArea.Address
Next rngArea