Change value in cell which was selected from dropdown list to another value

[harrysolomon]

I have a worksheet with a data validation dropdown list which the users will select from. The values contained in the dropdown list are the short (i.e. "user-friendly") descriptions of the values in a larger list. What I'd like to do is, when the user has selected the value they want from the dropdown I want to take that value and look it up on the larger list (VLOOKUP maybe?) and then populate the cell with the corresponding "Code" value for the entry they have selected.

For example, the full list has an entry with a "Short Name" value of Argentina and a "Code" value of ISOCountry_AR.
The data validation dropdown list I've added to Cell C2 contains the value Argentina and when the user selects this value, I want C2 to be populated
with the corresponding code value of ISOCountry_AR.

Thanks,
harrysolomon

 

[rayk8301]

vlookup sounds like a winner in this case.

Do you know how to use the vlookup function?

 

[harrysolomon]

Yes, I use VLOOKUP frequently but the issues I'm having with this particular scenario are (1) changing the value of the current cell from the value selected in the data validation dropdown list to the VLOOKUP formula and (2) using the VLOOKUP to change the value of that same cell. I tested VLOOKUP to accomplish this and it threw an error message about creating a circular reference.