Excel Reference To Current Cell

Several years too late:

Just for completeness I want to give yet another answer:

First, go to Excel-Options -> Formulas and enable R1C1 references. Then use

  =CELL("width", RC)

RC always refers the current Row, current Column, i.e. "this cell".

Rick Teachey's solution is basically a tweak to make the same possible in A1 reference style (see also GSerg's comment to Joey's answer and note his comment to Patrick McDonald's answer).

Cheers
:-)

Create a named formula called THIS_CELL

1. In the current worksheet, select cell A1 (this is important!)

2. Open Name Manager (Ctl+F3)

3. Click New...

4. Enter "THIS_CELL" (or just "THIS", which is my preference) into Name:

5. Enter the following formula into Refers to:

   =!A1

   NOTE: Be sure cell A1 is selected. This formula is relative to the ActiveCell.

6. Under Scope: select Workbook.

7. Click OK and close the Name Manager

Use the formula in the worksheet exactly as you wanted

=CELL("width",THIS_CELL)

EDIT: Better solution than using INDIRECT()

It's worth noting that the solution I've given should be preferred over any solution using the INDIRECT() function for two reasons:

1. It is nonvolatile, while INDIRECT() is a volatile Excel function, and as a result will dramatically slow down workbook calculation when it is used a lot.
2. It is much simpler, and does not require converting an address (in the form of ROW() COLUMN()) to a range reference to an address and back to a range reference again.

EDIT: Also see this question for more information on workbook-scoped, sheet dependent named ranges.

EDIT: Also see @imix's answer below for a variation on this idea (using RC style references). In that case, you could use =!RC for the THIS_CELL named range formula, or just use RC directly.