get value in one column in spreadsheet using google apps script

Question

I want to get a string value to compare it later on with an if condition from only one column in a spreadsheet using Google apps script. I searched the internet and I found this link - sorry if this sounds stupid, but I am new to Google apps scripts - https://developers.google.com/apps-script/class_spreadsheet

var values = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getRange(2, 3, 6, 4).getValues(); 

I guess that must be helpful, the only problem is that the column I want to get the values from is dynamic so how do I set the range of this column?

Answer 1

If you use simply :

var values = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet().getDataRange().getValues()

You will get a 2 Dimension array of all the data in the sheet indexed by rows and columns.

So to get the value in column A, row1 you use values[0][0] , values[1][0] for columnA, row 2, values[0][2] for column C row1, etc...

If you need to iterate in a for loop (in a single column) :

for (n = 0; n < values.length; ++n) {
    var cell = values[n][x] ; // x is the index of the column starting from 0
}

If you need to iterate in a for loop (in a single row) :

for (n = 0; n < values[0].length; ++n) {
    var cell = values[x][n] ; // x is the index of the row starting from 0
}