Multiple data values in single field

[jimbomcmucka]

Hi guys,
I have been racking my brain and cannot think of a way to work this problem - I'm hoping you may be able to point me in the right direction!?!

I am working on a project where we are changing a system and I need to transfer all of the data from the legacy to the new system, using a series of export / import sheets. The systems use 2 different 'languages', so I need to export the data from the legacy, cleanse the data and 'translate it' before uploading. Most of the fields have been fine, using either concatenations, substitutes etc. But a few of the fields hold multiple values, separated using a pipe (|). For example the extract would read "Product A | Product B | Product C".

I am running a VLOOKUP from the old product name to the new product name, based on a table in another tab (find old value, return new value) - which is working fine for singular values.

So, my question is - Is there a function that I can use that will consider the fact the field contains multiple values. Essentially, in my example above, I want to run 3 lookups, return 3 results, each separated with a pipe. (Note: The column could have any number of values, max approx 25.)

Hoping that makes sense? I'm not really sure where to start with further info, but do fire any questions at me that will help clarify!

Thanks!
Jim

 

[JvdV]

Something along these lines:

=TEXTJOIN(" | ",,VLOOKUP(TEXTSPLIT(A1," | "),B1:C3,2,1))

 

[jimbomcmucka]

Something along these lines:

=TEXTJOIN(" | ",,VLOOKUP(TEXTSPLIT(A1," | "),B1:C3,2,1))

Thanks very much! I'll give this a try.

I've never come across the TEXTJOIN and TEXTSPLIT functions before! - these could be really useful.

 

[JvdV]

Thanks very much! I'll give this a try.

I've never come across the TEXTJOIN and TEXTSPLIT functions before! - these could be really useful.

I made a crucial mistake though, the last parameter of VLOOKUP should read '0' for exact matching and not '1'! Make sure to adjust this before usage.

 

[jimbomcmucka]

That's amazing - It worked perfectly! Thanks so much.

Man, I wish I had come here sooner - would have saved me a few hours!