FIND

[Duritz]

Not sure if FIND is the right way to do this, but say I have a list of of things not sorted into order (and won't be sorted), like so -

A B
3 A
1 G
7 D
5 E
9 P
6 L
5 W


In cell C1 is a variable, and I want D1 to FIND that variable in the list in column A, and return the value corresponding in Column B.... but the list in A can't be sorted and won't be in order.... any ideas?

 

[cmhoz]

A VLOOKUP will do exactly what you're looking for.

= VLOOKUP(what you want to find, where you want to find it, column to return, FALSE)

The FALSE on the end makes the vlookup keep searching until it finds EXACTLY what you're looking for, regardless of the order of the list. If it doesn't find anything it will return an error (#N/A).

Just be sure that 'what you want to find' is in the first column of the range you put in as 'where you want to find it'.

 

[Duritz]

Good thanks cmhoz.... I guess if I didn't just use "lookup" all the time I'd know that....