Formulas

VimSheet supports a full-featured formula engine with over 100 built-in functions and dependency tracking.

Entering Formulas

Start a cell with = followed by the formula expression:

=SUM(A1:A10)
=AVERAGE(B1:B20)
=IF(A1 > 10, "High", "Low")
=VLOOKUP(D5, A1:B100, 2, FALSE)

Cell References

Reference	Description
`A1`	Relative reference
`$A$1`	Absolute reference
`$A1`	Mixed (column absolute, row relative)
`A$1`	Mixed (column relative, row absolute)
`A1:B10`	Range reference
`Sheet2!A1`	Cross-sheet reference

Paste Behavior

When you yank a formula cell and paste with p, cell references are adjusted relative to the destination cell:

Relative row (e.g. A1) — row number is set to the destination cell’s row: yanking =B2 from D1 and pasting to D3 produces =B3.
Relative column (e.g. A1) — column letter is shifted by the column offset between source and destination: yanking =B2 from D1 and pasting to E1 produces =C2.
Absolute (e.g. $A$1) — never changed.
Mixed — the locked part is preserved, the unlocked part is adjusted: $A1 keeps column A but the row is set to the destination row; A$1 keeps row 1 but the column shifts.

Pasting with P pastes the formula exactly as yanked — no adjustment is applied.

Operators

Operator	Description
`+`, `-`, `*`, `/`	Arithmetic
`^`	Exponentiation
`&`	String concatenation
`=`, `<>`, `<`, `>`, `<=`, `>=`	Comparison
`:`	Range operator
`,`	Union operator

Dependency Tracking

VimSheet automatically builds a dependency graph when you enter formulas. When a cell’s value changes, all dependent cells are recalculated in topological order. This ensures correct results even with complex chains of dependencies.

A1 = 10
A2 = A1 * 2         → 20
A3 = A2 + A1        → 30
Changing A1 to 20 → A2=40, A3=60

Circular references are detected and reported as #CIRC errors.

HTTP Data Fetching

Fetch live data from the web with the @FETCH function:

=FETCH("https://api.example.com/data")
=FETCH("https://api.example.com/data", 60, "$.temperature")
=FETCH("https://api.example.com/data", 300, "results[0].value")

The function takes: - url — the URL to fetch - refresh_seconds (optional) — how often to refresh in the background - json_path (optional) — dot/bracket notation to extract a specific value

Array and object responses automatically spill into adjacent cells. Use :fetchlist to see all active fetches, :fetchnow to immediately refresh, and :fetchstop to stop all background fetches.

See Formula Functions for the complete function reference.