Excel Formulas to Find the First Column Number in a Range ~ Easily!!
Tags: excelformula, excelformulas
Published: 2021-07-13 03:22:29

---
title: Excel Formulas to Find the First Column Number in a Range ~ Easily!!
published: true
date: 2021-07-09 08:19:25 UTC
tags: ExcelFormula,Excelformulas
canonical_url: https://geekexcel.com/excel-formulas-to-find-the-first-column-number-in-a-range/
---

So far we have learned the formulas to find the **[address of the first cell in Excel](https://geekexcel.com/excel-formulas-to-find-the-address-of-first-cell-in-a-range/)**. Likewise, here we will show the formulas to **find the first column number in a range in Excel**. Let’s see them below!! Get an official version of ** MS Excel**  from the following link: [https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoft-365/excel](https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoft-365/excel)

[![The first column number in a range](https://geekexcel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-first-column-number-in-a-range.png)](https://geekexcel.com/excel-formulas-to-find-the-first-column-number-in-a-range/the-first-column-number-in-a-range/#main)<figcaption id="caption-attachment-48764">The first column number in a range</figcaption>

## Generic Formula:

- If you want to return the first column number, you can use the below formula.

**=[MIN](https://geekexcel.com/how-to-use-excel-min-function-in-office-365-with-examples/)([COLUMN](https://geekexcel.com/use-column-function-in-microsoft-excel-365-simple-methods/)(range))**

## Syntax Explanations:

- **MIN** – In Excel, the [**MIN function**](https://geekexcel.com/how-to-use-excel-min-function-in-office-365-with-examples/) will return the smallest numeric value from the range of input values.
- **COLUMN** – This function is used to return column numbers for reference. Read more on the **[COLUMN Function](https://geekexcel.com/use-column-function-in-microsoft-excel-365-simple-methods/)**.
- **Range** – It represents the input range.
- **Comma symbol (,)** – It is a separator that helps to separate a list of values.
- **Parenthesis ()** – The main purpose of this symbol is to group the elements.

## Practical Example:

Let’s consider the below example image.

- Here we will enter the input values in **Column B** , and **Column C**.
- Now we are going to first column number in a range.

![Input Ranges](https://geekexcel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Input-Ranges-35.png)<figcaption id="caption-attachment-48759">Input Ranges</figcaption>

- Select any cell and type the above-given formula.

![Enter the formula](https://geekexcel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Enter-the-formula-34.png)<figcaption id="caption-attachment-48757">Enter the formula</figcaption>

- Finally, press **ENTER** key, you can get the result as shown below.

![Result](https://geekexcel.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Result-35.png)<figcaption id="caption-attachment-48760">Result</figcaption>

## Closure:

In this chapter, we have described the simple formulas to **get the first column number** (i.e. the starting column number) in a range in Excel. Hope that this article is useful to you. Leave a **comment** or **reply** below let me know what you think!

Thank you so much for visiting  **[Geek Excel](https://geekexcel.com/)!! **If you want to learn more helpful formulas, check out [**Excel Formulas**](https://geekexcel.com/excel-formula/) **!! **

### Read Ahead:

- **[Excel Formulas to Find First Match between Two Ranges ~ Quick Tricks!!](https://geekexcel.com/excel-formulas-to-find-first-match-between-two-ranges/)**
- **[How to Insert a Date or Formatted Date in Excel Office 365?](https://geekexcel.com/how-to-insert-a-date-or-formatted-date-in-excel-office-365/)**
- **[Excel Formulas to Add Row Numbers and Skip Blanks ~ Simple Guide!!](https://geekexcel.com/excel-formulas-to-add-row-numbers-and-skip-blanks-simple-guide/)**
- **[Excel Formulas to Find the Last Cell Address in a Range ~ Quick Tricks!!](https://geekexcel.com/excel-formulas-find-last-cell-address/)**