How to Flip a Row in Google Sheets

You can use the following formula to flip a row in Google Sheets while retaining empty cells:

=CHOOSECOLS(row, SEQUENCE(COLUMNS(row), 1, COLUMNS(row), -1))

Replace row with the row reference you want to flip. If you want to remove empty cells, you can use the FILTER function to exclude blanks.

Flip a Row in Google Sheets Using a Formula

Let’s first see how to flip a row in Google Sheets, then proceed to filtering out blank cells.

Table of Contents

Example of Flipping a Row in Google Sheets

Assume you have the following values in A1:E1:

Grapes

Apple

Orange

Mango

Banana

You can apply this formula in A2 to flip this row:

=CHOOSECOLS(A1:E1, SEQUENCE(COLUMNS(A1:E1), 1, COLUMNS(A1:E1), -1))

Output:

Banana

Mango

Orange

Apple

Grapes

How Does This Formula Work?

Normally, the CHOOSECOLS function is used to extract specific columns from a range. For example:

=CHOOSECOLS(A1:E1, 5)

This returns the fifth column value in the range A1:E1.

If you specify a sequence of numbers from 5 to 1 in descending order:

=CHOOSECOLS(A1:E1, {5, 4, 3, 2, 1})

It effectively flips the row.

In the formula, I’ve used the SEQUENCE function to generate these numbers dynamically:

SEQUENCE(COLUMNS(A1:E1), 1, COLUMNS(A1:E1), -1)

Breakdown of SEQUENCE:

COLUMNS(A1:E1) – Gets the total number of columns in the row.
1 – Number of columns in the sequence.
COLUMNS(A1:E1) – The starting number (highest column index).
-1 – Step value ensures the sequence decreases.

How to Remove Empty Cells While Flipping a Row

When working with growing datasets, you might prefer using dynamic row references like A1:1 or 1:1 instead of fixed ranges (A1:E1). However, this can introduce empty columns before the flipped row.

You can handle this in two ways:

Filtering out all empty cells (removes blanks anywhere in the row).
Trimming only trailing empty columns (keeps internal blanks intact).

Option 1: Remove All Empty Cells

=LET(
   ftr, CHOOSECOLS(A1:E1, SEQUENCE(COLUMNS(A1:E1), 1, COLUMNS(A1:E1), -1)), 
   FILTER(ftr, ftr<>"")
)

How It Works:

The LET function stores the flipped row as ftr.
FILTER(ftr, ftr<>"") removes all empty cells.

Result:

If there were empty cells in between, this method shifts data left to fill gaps.

Option 2: Remove Only Trailing Empty Cells

=ArrayFormula(CHOOSECOLS(A1:E1, SEQUENCE(XMATCH(TRUE, A1:E1<>"", 0, -1), 1, XMATCH(TRUE, A1:E1<>"", 0, -1), -1)))

How It Works:

Instead of COLUMNS(A1:E1), we use: XMATCH(TRUE, A1:E1<>"", 0, -1)
This finds the last non-empty column in the row.
The sequence now starts from this position, ignoring trailing blanks.
ARRAYFORMULA is applied since A1:E1<>"" is an array-based condition.

Key Difference from Option 1:

Keeps empty cells in the middle of the row.
Only removes trailing blanks.