# if function question circular reference [closed]

How can I specify the current cell value for a condition that evaluates to false? For example, function looks as follows

=IF(F1="null",I1, J1 )


The function exists in J1, so if F1 is null, then use the value from I1, otherwise leave J1 as is. Currently Err:522 appears in J1, since the function refers to itself.

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### Closed for the following reason the question is answered, right answer was accepted by Alex Kemp close date 2020-10-11 14:45:58.768799

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Circular references are basically against the grain of spreadsheets.
They aren't completely prohibited, however, because they can be used in rare cases for iterative calculations with sufficient reliability. =IF(ISNUMBER(A1);COS(A1);1) e.g. can converge to a good approximation of the solution of the equation x=COS(x). Anyway there must be a termination condition. There are two respective parameters that can be set under 'Tools'>'Options'>'LibrOffice Calc'>'Calculate. In the same dialogue you first need to enable circular references.

The example you give does not look like one for fixed-point convergence. Be careful. Many attempts to use conditionally suspended circular references pretend to work as expected under some testing, but fail under real-world conditions.

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