Index Match *

[GrilledCheese]

I have a formula that contains 2 syntax. =INDEX('[Sales.xls]Sheet1'!$A:$A,MATCH($A8,'[Customer.xls]Sheet1'!$A:$A,0)*3,0) What does the * in the formula mean?

 

[GrilledCheese]

Found answer online. Asterisk matches any sequence of characters. so in my example, *3 means 3 rows down.

I have a formula that contains 2 syntax. =INDEX('[Sales.xls]Sheet1'!$A:$A,MATCH($A8,'[Customer.xls]Sheet1'!$A:$A,0)*3,0) What does the * in the formula mean?

 

[bbott]

Found answer online. Asterisk matches any sequence of characters. so in my example, *3 means 3 rows down.

It's not matching characters in your formula, it's multiplying the result of the MATCH function by 3. So if MATCH returns 4, you would actually be moving down 12 rows...

 

[GrilledCheese]

I'm confused. What do you mean?

It's not matching characters in your formula, it's multiplying the result of the MATCH function by 3. So if MATCH returns 4, you would actually be moving down 12 rows...

 

[NeonRedSharpie]

MATCH returns a row number.

*3 multiplies anything by 3.

If MATCH returns 1 (meaning row 1) then your formula will return row 3.
If MATCH returns 20 (meaning row 20) then your formula will return row 60.

 

[bbott]

I'm confused. What do you mean?

An asterisk can be used as a wildcard -OR- as a multiplication operator. For instance, if your MATCH formula were:

MATCH($A8&"*",'[Customer.xls]Sheet1'!$A:$A,0)

It would look for the contents of A8 which may be followed by more text instead of exactly the contents of A8.