Formula for: Placing a name in a column if it meets certain criteria

[raindrop]

Formula for: Placing a name in a column if it meets certain criteria

I have a column of food in column A and I need to put the category in column B by looking at Column 1.


Any ideas to a simple formula? I have tried various ones, only able to have up to two variables. My actual data set will have approximately 20 items in Column A and 7 categories.



example:



<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="280" width="337"><colgroup><col style="width:48pt" span="2" width="64"> </colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt;width:48pt" height="19" width="64">Column A</td> <td style="width:48pt" width="64">Formula goes here: Column B</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Apple</td> <td>Fruit</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Orange</td> <td>Fruit</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Grape</td> <td>Fruit</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Potato
</td> <td>Veggie</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Celery
</td> <td>Veggie</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Carrot</td> <td>Veggie</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Pork</td> <td>Meat</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Chicken</td> <td>Meat</td> </tr> <tr style="height:14.4pt" height="19"> <td style="height:14.4pt" height="19">Steak</td> <td>Meat</td> </tr> </tbody></table>

 

[Aladin Akyurek]

Where are those 7 categories?

 

[raindrop]

I planed to type the name in using "fruit" etc... but I can put it in column A on a separate worksheet. The data would go in column B on the first worksheet.
Thoughts to the best way to approach this?

 

[Aladin Akyurek]

I planed to type the name in using "fruit" etc... but I can put it in column A on a separate worksheet. The data would go in column B on the first worksheet.
Thoughts to the best way to approach this?

A formula in column B can do categorizing if it can look up the item and find the category the item is associated with. This would mean something like:

=VLOOKUP(A2,Table,2,0)

where Table is a range associating a unique item with a category.

Table must already exist, created possibly manually or obtained from some source.

 

[raindrop]

thanks this worked. I was hoping for a different formula, because I notice that I use the same type of formula in other situations and it jams up excel some. Do you have any thoughts to this type of situation?

The VLOOKUP seems to be working fine in this scenario.

 

[Aladin Akyurek]

thanks this worked. I was hoping for a different formula, because I notice that I use the same type of formula in other situations and it jams up excel some. Do you have any thoughts to this type of situation?

The VLOOKUP seems to be working fine in this scenario.

=INDEX(Categories,MATCH(A2,Items,0))

would be an equivalent formula.

Would you elaborate on "jams excel some"? Slowing down, perhaps?