# \#ri-num and #r1 showing up as result to IfBlank(thisRow) evaluation. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask the Community\ **Created:** [February 13, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/ri-num-and-r1-showing-up-as-result-to-ifblank-thisrow-evaluation-why/171 "2018-02-13T05:07:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cnr](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/cnr/32/24174_2.png) [@cnr](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/cnr)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/ri-num-and-r1-showing-up-as-result-to-ifblank-thisrow-evaluation-why/171/1 "2018-02-13T05:07:58Z")
I was playing around with formulas to try to detect them in their cells when I got this weird result: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/1X/93684e640a85418dbc320be431c200d06c2838ae.png) You can see that if I evaluate whether a row is blank and then try to put a number (I tested with many numbers) the cell returns a reference to itself. Here’s what happens if I add rows: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/1X/157848fd60bf69a1f6a5de3d33ce5329f2205a0a.png) And then if I force reload: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/1X/36885a68cc10cf0fb228c3793a90fd6c60cd8834.png) Why does this happen? I expected it to return “5” because (excluding itself) the row was blank. Interestingly, by viewing details we can then get this bug by continuously hovering over the #r1 reference (is that what we call them?) ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/1X/8b1e367b84a983211aa69c3e9ca5c61e1ff0cf1f.png) I don’t know if this is related to the above problem or not ---
**Author:** ![tomavatars](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/tomavatars/32/6130_2.png) [@tomavatars](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/tomavatars)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 8:05am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/ri-num-and-r1-showing-up-as-result-to-ifblank-thisrow-evaluation-why/171/2 "2018-02-13T08:05:02Z")
Hi @cnr I believe it has something to do with the type of your column. It seems to be a link type, not a number. If you would like the formula to show a number then the column should be of number type. ---
**Author:** ![chris\_homburger](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/chris_homburger/32/6673_2.png) [@chris\_homburger](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/chris_homburger)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/ri-num-and-r1-showing-up-as-result-to-ifblank-thisrow-evaluation-why/171/3 "2018-02-13T14:50:41Z")
@cnr, I’ve seen this before too when I’ve referenced/looked up columns with a blank display value. That’s a fun bug though! ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Chen](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/user_avatar/connect.superhuman.com/al_chen/32/7293_2.png) [@Al\_Chen](https://connect.superhuman.com/u/Al_Chen)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/ri-num-and-r1-showing-up-as-result-to-ifblank-thisrow-evaluation-why/171/4 "2018-03-01T04:50:41Z")
@tomavatars Even if you set the column type to text, after entering in the `IfBlank()` formula it converts the column to a link . If you click on the link icon it just says it’s linked to the current table you are in which doesn’t really make sense. I’m not sure if this is related, but when you reference `thisRow` you are actually referencing a few things including the `tableID`, `rowID`, and `displayValue`. I think by using `IfBlank()` you’re asking if this entire tuple is empty (this is according to @nigel in [this thread](https://connect.superhuman.com/t/difference-between-to-thisrow-and-column-name/210/4?u=al_chen)). Since the tuple is _not_ blank, it returns the first parameter in the formula which I suppose is just the #r1 or #r2 reference to the cell itself. Instead of referencing `thisRow` I tried `=IfBlank([Column 1], 5)` so you are forcing the circular reference to the column itself and it returns the circular error (which is the correct error). Perhaps this is the error that should show up if you use `thisRow` too: ![54%20PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/coda1/original/1X/67a87d6167bf0b1af9add9fcc5d28b479adb3ce7.png)