VLookup, Choose, etc.

[Chris H]

I am working with a financial spreadsheet that has 36 columns off of the print range (one for each month for the past 3 years). With very short notice I will need to retrieve the data for three consecutive months (columns). Once I decide on the column I need (i.e. Jan of 2005) I would also like to pull the data from the 2 previous columns (i.e. Nov of 2004 and Dec. of 2004).

Can someone please suggest a formula I can use. Keep in mind that I would put the formula in the 3 columns I am creating.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ged]

If you numbered the columns you could possibly use a lookup table (VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP) using column number and two previous ones to select the required columns.
For example, if you require month 20, you can make a cell equal to 20 and in the previous two months make the lookup return the values for that cell-1 and cell-2.
Are the columns all fixed length? If not, you might need to be careful with the LOOKUP table as they sometimes get upset by blank cells.

 

[Chris H]

All columns are a fixed length.