VLOOKUP

Can I use vlookup with dublicate records?
ex.

ColumnA ColumnB
1 tom
2 steve
3 mike
3 joe

How can I vlookup 3 and return joe?

Any help would be great. I am new to excel.
Thank you

[Dave Hawley]

Hi

If you only have 3 once, use:

=VLOOKUP(3,A1:B10,1,FALSE)

The False agument will mean it finds an exact match.

[Daboyz1971]

Thanks Dave

But I have 3 more than once. Was wondering if there is something I could do to find the 2nd 3.

Thanks

[Dave Hawley]

Ok then, as you are new to Excel I wont confuse the issue with a horribly long function, try this instead.

Lets' assume your numeric data you want to lookup in in Column A. Insert a new column at Column A so that the data is now Column B. Now in Cell A2 put this:
=IF(COUNTIF($A$1:A1,B2)=0,B2,"")

Note the absolution of $A$1
Copy this down as far as needed then use the VLOOKUP to look for the number you want in Column A eg:

=VLOOKUP(3,A1:C100,3,FALSE)

[Daboyz1971]

Dave,

Again thanks for the help. Thats seems to find the 2nd one but i also need the first.
I need to be able to vlookup but 3's with the different name attached.

ex.
ColumnA ColumnB
1 tom
2 steve
3 mike
3 joe

need to vlookup 1st 3 with mike and 2nd 3 with joe.
sorry if I wasn't that clear am new at this also.

Thanks again
DaBoyz1971

[Dave Hawley]

Hi

Try this link to my site, it has a Custom type vlookup that let's you nominate which istance to return.

http://www.ozgrid.com/VBA/TwoColLkUp.htm

[Aladin Akyurek]

As is clear from the exchanges in this thread, you want to retrieve "joe" also when the lookup/key value is 3.

Note 1. It is better, if possible, not to associate the same key value with different values.

Assuming that A2:B5 houses your sample data:

In D1 enter: 3 [ a lookup/key value ]

In D2 enter:

=IF(COUNTIF(A:A,$D$1)>0,VLOOKUP($D$1,$A$2:$B$5,2,0),"Not Found")

In D3 enter:

=IF(COUNTIF(A:A,$D$1)>COUNTA($D$2:D2),VLOOKUP($D$1,$B$5:INDIRECT("A"&MATCH($D2,$B$1:$B$5,0)+1),2,0),"")

and copy down this till no more values are returned.

Note 2. If your data area is frequently changing (that is, the area is dynamic), a different approach might be more appropriate.

On 2002-03-09 17:06, Anonymous wrote:
Can I use vlookup with dublicate records?
ex.

ColumnA ColumnB
1 tom
2 steve
3 mike
3 joe

How can I vlookup 3 and return joe?

Any help would be great. I am new to excel.
Thank you