VLOOKUP and the "*" character

[telescreamer]

I've got a list of codes that uses the "*" character and others , like Z*X098 or Z!90XN

I've noticed that the * works as a wildcard with VLOOKUP, so VLOOKUP could return ZZX098 when I look for Z*X098.

Is there a way do disable this wildcard feature when using the VLOOKUP?

 

[IML]

You could use something along the lines of
=VLOOKUP(SUBSTITUTE(A1,"*","~*"),$J$9:$K$14,2,0)
instead of
=VLOOKUP(A1,$J$9:$K$14,2,0)

The tilde tells excel you are looking for the charater, not the wild card. Good luck