Get started with running JavaScript in Google Sheets

This tutorial will show you how to run JavaScript code in Google Sheets.

Prerequisites

• You're familiar with the basics of Google Sheets.

• You know how to create a script from your spreadsheet.

• You're familiar with the concept of a Custom Function in Google Sheets.

Step 1 — Create a new Google Sheets spreadsheet

I personally use the URL https://spreadsheet.new to create a new spreadsheet but you can also create one using Google Drive.

Step 2 — Create a Custom Function to evaluate JavaScript

Open the script editor by selecting Tools —> Script Editor from the menu.

Delete any code in the script editor. Then copy paste the code below into the editor.

/**
 * Evaluates JS code.
 *
 * @param {code} code The code to evaluate.
 * @return The result from evaluating the code.
 * @customfunction
 */
function RUNJS(code) {
  return eval(code); 
}

Save the code by selecting File —> Save from the script editor's menu or by pressing CTRL + S on your keyboard.

Step 3 — Use the function to run JavaScript code in Google Sheets

You can now use the =RUNJS() function in your spreadsheet. To try it out, enter 1+1 in cell A2 and enter the formula =RUNJS(A2) in cell B2. The resulting value in cell B2 is 2, which is the output of evaluating the JavaScript expression 1 + 1.

Here are some other JavaScript expressions to try out:

Below is a screenshot of the results I got by evaluating the JavaScript expressions in the above table using the RUNJS() function.

Conclusion

This tutorial showed you how you can run JavaScript code in Google Sheets. I thought of this approach while creating exercises for the Learn coding using Google Sheets and Apps Script tutorial. It worked perfectly for my use case so I decided to write this post to help others that might find this technique useful.

Thank you for reading!