Contents

# Calculate

Defines the calculation settings for spreadsheets. Defines the behavior of spreadsheets with iterative references, the date settings, the number of decimal places, and if capitalization or lower cases are to be considered when searching within sheets.

To access this command...

Open a spreadsheet document, choose LibreOffice - Preferences Tools - Options - LibreOffice Calc - Calculate.

## Formulas Wildcards

### Enable wildcards in formulas

Specifies that wildcards are enabled when searching and also for character string comparisons. This relates to the database functions, and to LOOKUP, VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, MATCH, AVERAGEIF, AVERAGEIFS, COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, SUMIF, SUMIFS and SEARCH.

- ? (question mark) matches any single character

- * (asterisk) matches any sequence of characters, including an empty string

- ~ (tilde) escapes the special meaning of a question mark, asterisk or tilde character that follows immediately after the tilde character

Enable wildcards in formulas for spreadsheets that need to be interoperable with Microsoft Excel.

### Enable regular expressions in formulas

Specifies that regular expressions instead of simple wildcards are enabled when searching and also for character string comparisons. This relates to the database functions, and to LOOKUP, VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, MATCH, AVERAGEIF, AVERAGEIFS, COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, SUMIF, SUMIFS and SEARCH.

Do not enable regular expressions in formulas for spreadsheets that need to be interoperable with Microsoft Excel.

### No wildcards or regular expressions in formulas

Specifies that only literal strings are used when searching and also for character string comparisons. This relates to the database functions, and to LOOKUP, VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, MATCH, AVERAGEIF, AVERAGEIFS, COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, SUMIF, SUMIFS and SEARCH.

Do not disable wildcards in formulas for spreadsheets that need to be interoperable with Microsoft Excel.

## General Calculations

### Case sensitive

Specifies whether to distinguish between upper and lower case in texts when comparing cell contents.

Example: Type the text 'Test' in cell A1; and the text 'test' in B1. Then type the formula "=A1=B1" in cell C1. If the Case sensitive box is marked, FALSE will appear in the cell; otherwise, TRUE will appear in the cell.

The EXACT text function is always case-sensitive, independent of the settings in this dialog.

Disable case sensitivity for spreadsheets that need to be interoperable with Microsoft Excel.

### Precision as shown

Specifies whether to make calculations using the rounded values displayed in the sheet. Charts will be shown with the displayed values. If the Precision as shown option is not marked, the displayed numbers are rounded, but they are calculated internally using the non-rounded number.

### Search criteria = and <> must apply to whole cells

Specifies that the search criteria you set for the Calc database functions must match the whole cell exactly. When both, the Search criteria = and <> must apply to whole cells box and the Enable wildcards in formulas box are marked, LibreOffice Calc behaves exactly as Microsoft Excel when searching cells in the database functions.

* in following position: | Search result:
--- | ---
win | Finds win, but not win95, os2win, or upwind
win* | Finds win and win95, but not os2win or upwind
*win | Finds win and os2win, but not win95 or upwind
*win* | Finds win, win95, os2win, and upwind

If Search criteria = and <> must apply to whole cells is not enabled, the "win" search pattern acts like "*win*". The search pattern can be at any position within the cell when searching with the Calc database functions.

Enable whole cell match for spreadsheets that need to be interoperable with Microsoft Excel.

### Automatically find column and row labels

Specifies that you can use the text in any cell as a label for the column below the text or the row to the right of the text. The text must consist of at least one word and must not contain any operators.

Example: Cell E5 contains the text "Europe". Below, in cell E6, is the value 100 and in cell E7 the value 200. If the Automatically find column and row labels box is marked, you can write the following formula in cell A1: =SUM(Europe).

For more information, see Recognizing Names as Addressing.

### Limit decimals for general number format

You can specify the maximum number of decimal places that are shown by default for cells with General number format. If not enabled, cells with General number format show as many decimal places as the column width allows.

### Decimal places

Defines the number of decimals to be displayed for numbers with the General number format. The numbers are displayed as rounded numbers, but are not saved as rounded numbers.

## Iterative references

In this section you can delimit the number of approximation steps carried out during iterative calculations. In addition, you can specify the degree of precision of the answer.

### Iterations

Specifies whether formulas with iterative references (formulas that are continuously repeated until the problem is solved) are calculated after a specific number of repetitions. If the Iterations box is not marked, an iterative reference in the table will cause an error message.

Example: calculating the cost of an item without the value-added tax.

1. Type the text 'Selling price' in cell A5, the text 'Net' in cell A6, and the text 'Value-added tax' in cell A7.

2. Now type a selling price (for example, 100) in cell B5. The net price should be shown in cell B6 and the value-added tax should be shown in cell B7.

3. You know that the value-added tax is calculated as 'net price times 15%' and that you arrive at the net price by deducting the value-added tax from the selling price. Type the formula =B5-B7 in B6 to calculate the net price, and type the formula =B6*0.15 in cell B7 to calculate the value-added tax.

4. Switch on the iterations to correctly calculate the formulas, otherwise a 'Circular reference' error message appears in the Status Bar.

| A | B
5 | Selling Price | 100
6 | Net | =B5-B7
7 | Tax | =B6*0.15

### Steps

Sets the maximum number of iteration steps.

### Minimum Change

Specifies the difference between two consecutive iteration step results. If the result of the iteration is lower than the minimum change value, then the iteration will stop.

## CPU Threading Settings

### Enable Multi-threaded calculations

Multithreading is the ability of a central processing unit (CPU) (or a single core in a multi-core processor) to provide multiple threads of execution. This feature improves the speed of processing.

## Date

Select the start date for the internal conversion from days to numbers.

Microsoft Excel wrongly assumes year 1900 to be a leap year and considers the inexistent day of 1900-02-29 as valid in date calculations. Dates prior to 1900-03-01 are therefore different in Excel and Calc.

### 1899-12-30 (default)

Sets 1899-12-30 as day zero.

### 1900-01-01 (StarCalc 1.0)

Sets 1900-01-01 as day zero. Use this setting for StarCalc 1.0 spreadsheets containing date entries.

### 1904-01-01

Sets 1904-01-01 as day zero. Use this setting for spreadsheets that are imported in a foreign format.

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