Search for Text in a string from a list of names

[dmong]

This is difficult to explain but I'm trying to write a formula that will look at a cell and see if it contains text that would match one of multiple names from a list. Below is an image showing the basic premise.

The description column contains the string(s) of text where I want to "search" and see if it contains any of the names in the "Last Name" column. If it does, then I would like to populate the "Last, First" column with the corresponding "Full Name". Hope this makes sense. Thank you.

<TABLE style="WIDTH: 446pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=593><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 110pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 5339" span=2 width=146><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" span=2 width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 53pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2596" width=71><COL style="WIDTH: 77pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3730" width=102><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; WIDTH: 110pt; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0" class=xl65 height=20 width=146>Description</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; WIDTH: 110pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0" class=xl71 width=146>Last, First</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; WIDTH: 48pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid" class=xl66 width=64>Amount</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; WIDTH: 48pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0" width=64></TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; WIDTH: 53pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0" class=xl65 width=71>Last Name</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; WIDTH: 77pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid" class=xl66 width=102>Full Name</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0" class=xl72 height=20>898734SmithJohn</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0"></TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid" class=xl68 align=right>150</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0"></TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0" class=xl67>Smith</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid" class=xl68>Smith, John</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; HEIGHT: 15pt; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0" class=xl72 height=20>987233JonesJames</TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0"></TD><TD style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; 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[Haseeb Avarakkan]

Hello, Try

Assume Col_A contains description, E:F contains Last Name & Full Name.

B2, copy down.

=LOOKUP(1E+100,SEARCH($E$2:$E$5,A2),$F$2:$F$5)

 

[dmong]

It worked! Thank you, Haseeb. BTW, what does the 1E+100 do in the formula? Thanks again.

 

[Haseeb Avarakkan]

Glad. It works.

1E+100 is scientific notation of a big number. 1 with 100 zeros. It used to looking for a small value than lookup_value in SEARCH array.

See the link.

http://www.mrexcel.com/pc18.shtml

 

[Haseeb Avarakkan]

See this video too,

http://www.youtube.com/user/ExcelIsFun?blend=1&ob=5#p/search/2/bKmxFhOY70M