Look up values in a list of data

Let's say you want to look up an employee's phone extension by using their badge number, or the correct
rate of a commission for a sales amount. You look up data to quickly and efficiently find specific data in a
list and to automatically verify that you are using correct data. After you look up the data, you can perform
calculations or display results with the values returned. There are several ways to look up values in a list
of data and to display the results.

What do you want to do?

Use the VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP functions
Look up values vertically in a list by using an exact match
Look up values vertically in a list by using an approximate match
Look up values horizontally in a list by using an exact match
Look up values horizontally in a list by using an approximate match
Use the INDEX, MATCH, and OFFSET functions
Create a lookup formula with the Lookup Wizard
Look up values vertically in a list by using an exact match
Look up values vertically in a list of unknown size by using an exact match
Look up values vertically in a list by using an exact match
To do this task, use the VLOOKUP function.
Example
The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.
1. Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
2. Select the example in the Help topic.

Note Do not select the row or column headers.

Selecting an example from Help

3. Press CTRL+C.
4. In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
5. To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press
CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula
Auditing Mode.
 A B C D
1 Badge Number Last Name First Name Extension
2 ID-34567 Davolio Nancy 5467
3 ID-16782 Fuller Andrew 3457
4 ID-4537 Leverling Janet 3355
5 ID-1873 Peacock Margaret 5176
6 ID-3456 Buchanan Steven 3453
7 ID-5678 Suyama Michael 428
Formula Description (Result)
=VLOOKUP("ID-4537", Lookup the badge number, ID-4537, in the first column and return
A1:D7, 4, FALSE) the matching value in the same row of the fourth column (3355)

Look up values vertically in a list by using an approximate match

To do this task, use the VLOOKUP function.
Important This method only works if the values in the first column have been sorted in ascending order.

To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+`
(grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing
Mode.

In this example, you know the frequency and want to look up the associated color.

A B
1 Frequency Color
2 4.14 red
3 4.19 orange
4 5.17 yellow
5 5.77 green
6 6.39 blue
Formula Description (Result)
=VLOOKUP(5.93, Looks up 5.93 in column A, finds the next largest value that is less than
A1:B6, 2, TRUE) 5.93, which is 5.77, and then returns the value from column B that's in
the same row as 5.77 (green)

Look up values horizontally in a list by using an exact match

To do this task, use the HLOOKUP function.
 A B C
1 Status Axles Bolts
2 In stock 4 9
3 On order 5 10
4 Back order 6 11
Formula Description (Result)
=HLOOKUP("Bolts", Looks up Bolts in row 1, and returns the value from row 3
A1:C4, 3) that's in the same column (10)

Look up values horizontally in a list by using an approximate match

To do this task, use the HLOOKUP function.
Important This method only works if the values in the first row have been sorted in ascending order.

A B C D
1 10000 50000 100000 Sales
Volume
2
.05 .20 .30 Rate
3
Formula Description (Result)
4
=HLOOKUP(78658,A1:D4,2, Looks up $78,658 in Row 1, finds the next largest
TRUE) value that is less than $78,658, which is $50,000, and
then returns the value from row 2 that's in the same
column as $50,000 (20%)

Notes To display the rate and return number as a percentage, select the cell and then click Percent Style
on the Formatting toolbar.

To display the Sales Volume number as dollars, select the cell and then click Dollar Style on the
Formatting toolbar.
Create a lookup formula with the Lookup Wizard
The Lookup Wizard creates the lookup formula based on a worksheet data that has row and column labels.
The Lookup Wizard helps you find other values in a row when you know the value in one column, and
vice versa. The Lookup Wizard uses INDEX and MATCH in the formulas that it creates.
1. On the Tools menu, click Add-ins, select the Lookup Wizard box, and then click OK.
2. Click a cell in the range.
3. On the Tools menu, click Lookup.
4. Follow the instructions in the wizard.

Look up values vertically in a list by using an exact match

To do this task, use the INDEX and MATCH functions.

A B
1 Product Count
2 Bananas 38
3 Oranges 25
4 Apples 41
5 Pears 40
Formula Description (Result)
=INDEX(A2:B5,MATCH("Pears",A2:A5,0),2) Looks up Pears in column A and returns the value
for Pears in column B (40).

The formula uses the following arguments.

Formula to look up a value in an unsorted range (INDEX function)

A2:B5: The entire range in which you are looking up values.
MATCH("Pears",A2:A5,0): The MATCH function determines the row number.
"Pears": The value to find in the lookup column.
A2:A5: The column for the MATCH function to search.
2: The column from which to return the value. The leftmost column is 1.
Look up values vertically in a list of unknown size by using an exact match
To do this task, use the OFFSET and MATCH functions.
Use this approach when your data is in an external data range that you refresh each day. You know the
price is in column B, but you don't know how many rows of data the server will return, and the first
column isn't sorted alphabetically.

A B
1 Product Count
2 Bananas 38
3 Oranges 25
4 Apples 41
5 Pears 40
 Formula Description (Result)
=OFFSET(A1,MATCH("Pears",A2:A5, Looks up Pears in column A and returns the value for
0),1) Pears in column B ( 40).

The formula uses the following arguments.

A1: The upper left cell of the range, also called the starting cell.
MATCH("Pears",A2:A5, 0): The MATCH function determines the row number below the starting cell
to find the look up value.
"Pears": The value to find in the lookup column.
A2:A5: The column for the MATCH function to search. Don't include the starting cell in this range.
1: The number of columns to the right of the starting cell to find the lookup value.