How do I get a cell's position within a range? - vba

Question

How would I go about getting the relative position of a cell within a range? Finding the position of a cell in a worksheet is trivial, using the Row- and Column-properties, but I am unsure of how to do the same within a range.
I considered using the position of the top-left cell in the range I want to find the position of a cell in, and just deduct it (-1) from the position of the cell in the worksheet, but it gets a little bit cumbersome. Is there a more elegant way to go about this?
My best attempt, including a test, so far is this:
Option Explicit
Sub test()
Dim r As Range: Set r = Sheet1.Range("B2:E10")
Dim c As Range: Set c = Sheet1.Range("C2")
Debug.Print "Column in sheet: " & c.Column
Debug.Print "Row in sheet: " & c.Row
Debug.Print "Column in range: " & column_in_range(r, c)
Debug.Print "Row in range: " & row_in_range(r, c)
End Sub
Function column_in_range(r As Range, c As Range) As Long
column_in_range = c.Column - (r.Cells(1, 1).Column - 1)
End Function
Function row_in_range(r As Range, c As Range) As Long
row_in_range = c.Row - (r.Cells(1, 1).Row - 1)
End Function
This gives the desired output:
Column in sheet: 3
Row in sheet: 2
Column in range: 2
Row in range: 1
But I wonder if there are any native functions I can use instead?

Answer 1

updated using variant provided by lori_m
But I wonder if there are any native functions ...
use this
Sub test()
Dim r As Range, c As Range
With Sheet1
Set r = .[B2:E10]
Set c = .[C2]
End With
If Not Intersect(r, c) Is Nothing Then
Debug.Print "Column in sheet: " & c.Column
Debug.Print "Row in sheet: " & c.Row
Debug.Print "Column in range: " & Range(r(1), c).Columns.Count
Debug.Print "Row in range: " & Range(r(1), c).Rows.Count
End If
End Sub
output
Column in sheet: 3
Row in sheet: 2
Column in range: 2
Row in range: 1

Answer 2

There is no native way to do it. I also do what you have mentioned in the code above. However I put some extra checks.
Sub test1()
Dim r As Range: Set r = Sheet1.Range("B2:E10")
Dim c As Range: Set c = Sheet2.Range("C2") '<~~ Changed Sheet1 to sheet2
Dim rng As Range
On Error Resume Next
Set rng = Intersect(c, r)
On Error GoTo 0
'~~> Check if the range is in main range
If Not rng Is Nothing Then
'
'~~> Rest of your code
'
Else
MsgBox c.Address & " in " & c.Parent.Name & _
" is not a part of " & _
r.Address & " in " & r.Parent.Name
End If
End Sub

Answer 3

In my opinion there is almost native way to check it but result is a string required some additional manipulation. All you need to use is a proper construction of .Address property (according to MSDN). Some examples:
Dim r As Range: Set r = Sheet1.Range("B2:E10")
Dim c As Range: Set c = Sheet1.Range("c2")
Debug.Print c.Address(False, False, xlR1C1, , r.Cells(0, 0))
'>>result: R[1]C[2]
'-----------------------------------------------------
Set c = Sheet1.Range("e2")
Debug.Print c.Address(False, False, xlR1C1, , r.Cells(0, 0))
'>>result: R[1]C[4]
'-----------------------------------------------------
Set c = Sheet1.Range("e5")
Debug.Print c.Address(False, False, xlR1C1, , r.Cells(0, 0))
'>>result: R[4]C[4]
'-----------------------------------------------------

Answer 4

Take a look on MSDN to see more.
You can use something like :
MsgBox ActiveCell.Address(RowAbsolute:=True, _
ColumnAbsolute:=True, _
ReferenceStyle:=xlR1C1, _
External:=False, _
RelativeTo:=Range("B2"))
'Or shorter version :
MsgBox ActiveCell.Address(, , xlR1C1, False, Range("B2"))
But you'll have both information about row and column in the range, but not separately.
So you'll still need to extract these values from the answer (look like : R18C20) in two functions, so almost the same issue...

Answer 5

I'm not totally sure if this is what you are after.
But here it goes:
Sub ts2()
Dim test As Range
Set test = Range("B2:E10")
Dim topcorner As Range
Dim testcell As Range
Set topcorner = Cells(test.Row, test.Column)
Set testcell = Range("D7")
rel_row = testcell.Row - topcorner.Row
rel_col = testcell.Column - topcorner.Column
End Sub
By this, you will find the relative position.
But maybe you were looking for some built in function ?
If this was not the thing you were after, please edit your post...