Question: In the formula typed into say cell A2:

```
=if(A1<0, do something 1, do something 2)

```

Is it possible to have the condition statement ie `A1<0` referenced from another cell (say C1 which contains text "A1<0")?

So the final formula would take the condition from another cell

```
=if(text in C1 which is the entire condition, do something 1, do something 2)

```

Currently, the if condition reads everything as a text and therefore doesn't accept it as a conditional.

Answer: 
The IF statement only needs something that returns TRUE or FALSE for the condition. So, if you have a formula in cell C1 that evaluates to TRUE or FALSE, then you can refer to C1 as the condition. You don't have to "copy" that condition into the IF statement. 

See the screenshot. C1 has a formula that returns either TRUE or FALSE. Cell C3 has an IF statement that uses only a reference to C1 as the condition.

```
=IF(C1,"C1 returns True", "C1 returns False")

```

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/34WrU.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/34WrU.png)
teylyn beat me to that example, which is really the only kind of thing that comes close. 

What you're asking is related to a question that has been asked before -- is there a way to store an expression as text and then evaluate it as if it was a formula. That can be done with VBA, using the EVALUATE function, but then you can't embed that as the first parameter of an IF test unless you do something similar to teylyn's example using a helper cell. You might find this related thread interesting: [Excel function that evaluates a string as if it were a formula?](https://superuser.com/q/253353/364367). 

There's actually a limited case where string expressions can be evaluated without VBA. EVALUATE can be used in the Name Manager. Here's an example of [using EVALUATE that way](https://www.myonlinetraininghub.com/excel-factor-12-secret-evaluate-function). That can be used for a helper cell. I don't have ready access to Excel to test using that within the IF test as the first parameter, but I would be surprised if that worked (Excel typically doesn't support launching complex functions when a simple parameter is expected).