How to use VLOOKUP in Excel: advanced formula examples
These examples will teach you how to Vlookup multiple criteria, return a specific instance or all matches, do dynamic Vlookup in multiple sheets, and more.
It is the second part of the series that will help you harness the power of Excel VLOOKUP. The examples imply that you know how this function works. If not, it stands to reason to start with the basic uses of VLOOKUP in Excel.
Before moving further, let me briefly remind you the syntax:
Now that everyone is on the same page, let's take a closer look at the advanced VLOOKUP formula examples:
How to Vlookup multiple criteria
The Excel VLOOKUP function is really helpful when it comes to searching across a database for a certain value. However, it lacks an important feature - its syntax allows for just one lookup value. But what if you want to look up with several conditions? There are a few different solutions for you to choose from.
Formula 1. VLOOKUP based on two values
Suppose you have a list of orders and want to find the quantity based on 2 criteria, Customer name and Product. A complicating factor is that each customer ordered multiple products, as shown in the table below:
A usual VLOOKUP formula won't work in this situation because it returns the first found match based on a single lookup value that you specify.
To overcome this, you can add a helper column and concatenate the values from two lookup columns (Customer and Product) there. It is important that the helper column should be the leftmost column in the table array because it's where Excel VLOOKUP always searches for the lookup value.
So, add a column to the left of your table and copy the below formula across that column. This will populate the helper column with the values from columns B and C (the space character is concatenated in between for better readability):
=B2&" "&C2
And then, use a standard VLOOKUP formula and place both criteria in the lookup_value argument, separated with a space:
=VLOOKUP("Jeremy Sweets", A2:D11, 4, FALSE)
Or, input the criteria in separate cells (G1 and G2 in our case) and concatenate those cells:
=VLOOKUP(G1&" "&G2, A2:D11, 4, FALSE)
As we want to return a value from column D, which is fourth in the table array, we use 4 for col_index_num. The range_lookup argument is set to FALSE to Vlookup an exact match. The screenshot below shows the result:
In case your lookup table is in another sheet, include the sheet's name in your VLOOKUP formula. For example:
=VLOOKUP(G1&" "&G2, Orders!A2:D11, 4, FALSE)
Alternatively, create a named range for the lookup table (say, Orders) to make the formula easier-to-read:
=VLOOKUP(G1&" "&G2, Orders, 4, FALSE)
For more information, please see How to Vlookup from another sheet in Excel.
Formula 2. Excel VLOOKUP with multiple conditions
In theory, you can use the above approach to Vlookup more than two criteria. However, there are a couple of caveats. Firstly, a lookup value is limited to 255 characters, and secondly, the worksheet's design may not allow adding a helper column.
Luckily, Microsoft Excel often provides more than one way to do the same thing. To Vlookup multiple criteria, you can use either an INDEX MATCH combination or the XLOOKUP function recently introduced in Office 365.
For example, to look up based on 3 different values (Date, Customer name and Product), use one of the following formulas:
=INDEX(D2:D11, MATCH(1, (G1=A2:A11) * (G2=B2:B11) * (G3=C2:C11), 0))
=XLOOKUP(1, (G1=A2:A11) * (G2=B2:B11) * (G3=C2:C11), D2:D11)
Where:
- G1 is criteria 1 (date)
- G2 is criteria 2 (customer name)
- G3 is criteria 3 (product)
- A2:A11 is lookup range 1 (dates)
- B2:B11 is lookup range 2 (customer names)
- C2:C11 is lookup range 3 (products)
- D2:D11 is the return range (quantity)
For the detailed explanation of the formulas, please see:
How to use VLOOKUP to get 2nd, 3rd or nth match
As you already know, Excel VLOOKUP can fetch only one matching value, more precisely, it returns the first found match. But what if there are several matches in your lookup array and you want to get the 2nd or 3rd instance? The task sounds quite intricate, but the solution does exist!
Formula 1. Vlookup Nth instance
Suppose you have customer names in one column, the products they purchased in another, and you are looking to find the 2nd or 3rd product bought by a given customer.
The simplest way is to add a helper column to the left of the table like we did in the first example. But this time, we will populate it with customer names and occurrence numbers like "John Doe1", "John Doe2", etc.
To get the occurrence, use the COUNTIF function with a mixed range reference (the first reference is absolute and the second is relative like $B$2:B2). Since the relative reference changes based on a position of the cell where the formula is copied, in row 3 it will become $B$2:B3, in row 4 - $B$2:B4, and so on.
Concatenated with the customer name (B2), the formula takes this form:
=B2&COUNTIF($B$2:B2, B2)
The above formula goes to A2, and then you copy it down to as many cells as needed.
After that, input the target name and occurrence number in separate cells (F1 and F2), and use the below formula to Vlookup a specific occurrence:
=VLOOKUP(F1&F2, A2:C11, 3, FALSE)
Formula 2. Vlookup 2nd occurrence
If you are looking for the 2nd instance of the lookup value, then you can do without the helper column. Instead, create the table array dynamically by using the INDIRECT function together with MATCH:
=VLOOKUP(E1, INDIRECT("A"&(MATCH(E1, A2:A11, 0)+2)&":B11"), 2, FALSE)
Where:
- E1 is the lookup value
- A2:A11 is the lookup range
- B11 is the last (bottom-right) cell of the lookup table
Please note that the above formula is written for a specific case where data cells in the lookup table begin in row 2. If your table is somewhere in the middle of the sheet, use this universal formula, where A1 is the top-left cell of the lookup table containing a column header:
=VLOOKUP(E1, INDIRECT("A"&(MATCH(E1, A2:A11, 0)+1+ROW(A1))&":B11"), 2, FALSE)
How this formula works
Here is the key part of the formula that creates a dynamic vlookup range:
INDIRECT("A"&(MATCH(E1, A2:A11, 0)+2)&":B11")
The MATCH function configured for exact match (0 in the last argument) compares the target name (E1) against the list of names (A2:A11) and returns the position of the first found match, which is 3 in our case. This number is going to be used as the starting row coordinate for the vlookup range, so we add 2 to it (+1 to exclude the first instance and +1 to exclude row 1 with the column headers). Alternatively, you can use 1+ROW(A1) to calculate the necessary adjustment automatically based on the position of the header row (A1 in our case).
As the result, we get the following text string, which INDIRECT converts to a range reference:
INDIRECT("A"&5&":B11") -> A5:B11
This range goes to the table_array argument of VLOOKUP forcing it to start searching in row 5, leaving out the first instance of the lookup value:
VLOOKUP(E1, A5:B11, 2, FALSE)
How to Vlookup and return multiple values in Excel
The Excel VLOOKUP function is designed to return just one match. Is there a way to Vlookup multiple instances? Yes, there is, though not an easy one. This requires a combined use of several functions such as INDEX, SMALL and ROW is an array formula.
For example, the below can find all occurrences of the lookup value F2 in the lookup range B2:B16 and return multiple matches from column C:
{=IFERROR(INDEX($C$2:$C$16, SMALL(IF($F$2=B2:B16, ROW(C2:C16)-1,""), ROW()-3)),"")}
There are 2 ways to enter the formula in your worksheet:
- Type the formula in the first cell, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter, and then drag it down to a few more cells.
- Select several adjacent cells in a single column (F1:F11 in the screenshot below), type the formula and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to complete it.
Either way, the number of cells in which you enter the formula should be equal to or larger than the maximum number of possible matches.
For the detailed explanation of the formula logic and more examples, please see How to VLOOKUP multiple values in Excel.
How to Vlookup in rows and columns (two-way lookup)
Two-way lookup (aka matrix lookup or 2-dimentional lookup) is a fancy word for looking up a value at the intersection of a certain row and column. There are a few different ways to do two-dimensional lookup in Excel, but since the focus of this tutorial is on the VLOOKUP function, we will naturally use it.
For this example, we'll take the below table with monthly sales and work out a VLOOKUP formula to retrieve the sales figure for a specific item in a given month.
With item names in A2:A9, month names in B1:F1, the target item in I1 and the target month in I2, the formula goes as follows:
=VLOOKUP(I1, A2:F9, MATCH(I2, A1:F1, 0), FALSE)
How this formula works
The core of the formula is the standard VLOOKUP function that searches for an exact match to the lookup value in I1. But since we do not know in which exactly column the sales for a specific month are, we cannot supply the column number directly to the col_index_num argument. To find that column, we use the following MATCH function:
MATCH(I2, A1:F1, 0)
Translated into English, the formula says: look up the I2 value in A1:F1 and return its relative position in the array. By supplying 0 to the 3rd argument, you instruct MATCH to find the value exactly equal to the lookup value (it's like using FALSE for the range_lookup argument of VLOOKUP).
Since Mar is in the 4th column in the lookup array, the MATCH function returns 4, which goes directly to the col_index_num argument of VLOOKUP:
VLOOKUP(I1, A2:F9, 4, FALSE)
Please pay attention that although the month names start in column B, we use A1:I1 for the lookup array. This is done in order for the number returned by MATCH to correspond to the column's position in table_array of VLOOKUP.
To learn more ways to perform matrix lookup in Excel, please see INDEX MATCH MATCH and other formulas for 2-dimensional lookup.
How to do multiple Vlookup in Excel (nested Vlookup)
Sometimes it may happen that your main table and lookup table do not have a single column in common, which prevents you from doing a Vlookup between two tables. However, there exists another table, which does not contain the information you are looking for but has one common column with the main table and another common column with the lookup table.
In below image illustrates the situation:
The goal is to copy prices to the main table based on Item IDs. The problem is that the table containing prices does not have the Item IDs, meaning we will have to do two Vlookups in one formula.
For the sake of convenience, let's create a couple of named ranges first:
- Lookup table 1 is named Products (D3:E3).
- Lookup table 2 is named Prices (G3:H3).
The tables can be in the same or different worksheets.
And now, we will perform the so-called double Vlookup, aka nested Vlookup.
First, make a VLOOKUP formula to find the product name in the Lookup table 1 (named Products) based on the item id (A3):
=VLOOKUP(A3, Products, 2, FALSE)
Next, put the above formula in the lookup_value argument of another VLOOKUP function to pull prices from Lookup table 2 (named Prices) based on the product name returned by the nested VLOOKUP:
=VLOOKUP(VLOOKUP(A3, Products, 2, FALSE), Prices, 2, FALSE)
The screenshot below shows our nested Vlookup formula in action:
How to Vlookup multiple sheets dynamically
Sometimes, you may have data in the same format split over several worksheets. And your aim is to pull data from a specific sheet depending on the key value in a given cell.
This may be easier to understand from an example. Let's say, you have a few regional sales reports in the same format, and you are looking to get the sales figures for a specific product in certain regions:
Like in the previous example, we start with defining a few names:
- Range A2:B5 in CA sheet is named CA_Sales.
- Range A2:B5 in FL sheet is named FL_Sales.
- Range A2:B5 in KS sheet is named KS_Sales.
As you can see, all the named ranges have a common part (Sales) and unique parts (CA, FL, KS). Please be sure to name your ranges in a similar manner as it's essential for the formula we are going to build.
Formula 1. INDIRECT VLOOKUP to dynamically pull data from different sheets
If your task is to retrieve data from multiple sheets, a VLOOKUP INDIRECT formula is the best solution – compact and easy-to-understand.
For this example, we organize the summary table in this way:
- Input the products of interest in A2 and A3. Those are our lookup values.
- Enter the unique parts of the named ranges in B1, C1 and D1.
And now, we concatenate the cell containing the unique part (B1) with the common part ("_Sales"), and feed the resulting string to INDIRECT:
INDIRECT(B$1&"_Sales")
The INDIRECT function transforms the string into a name that Excel can understand, and you put it in the table_array argument of VLOOKUP:
=VLOOKUP($A2, INDIRECT(B$1&"_Sales"), 2, FALSE)
The above formula goes to B2, and then you copy it down and to the right.
Please pay attention that, in the lookup value ($A2), we've locked the column coordinate with absolute cell reference so that the column remains fixed when the formula is copied to the right. In the B$1 reference, we locked the row because we want the column coordinate to change and supply an appropriate name part to INDIRECT depending on the column into which the formula is copied:
If your main table is organized differently, the lookup values in a row and unique parts of the range names in a column, then you should lock the row coordinate in the lookup value (B$1) and the column coordinate in the name parts ($A2):
=VLOOKUP(B$1, INDIRECT($A2&"_Sales"), 2, FALSE)
Formula 2. VLOOKUP and nested IFs to look up multiple sheets
In situation when you have just two or three lookup sheets, you can use a fairly simple VLOOKUP formula with nested IF functions to select the correct sheet based on the key value in a particular cell:
=VLOOKUP($A2, IF(B$1="CA", CA_Sales, IF(B$1="FL", FL_Sales, IF(B$1="KS", KS_Sales,""))), 2, FALSE)
Where $A2 is the lookup value (item name) and B$1 is the key value (state):
In this case, you do not necessarily need to define names and can use external references to refer to another sheet or workbook.
That's how to use VLOOKUP in Excel. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week!
Available downloads
Advanced Vlookup formula examples
297 Responses to "How to use VLOOKUP in Excel: advanced formula examples"
HI
I have an excel data like following, i want to retrieve style DEC and PQR becasue all their SKU's had sale. do not want to retrieve data for styles whose all SKU's did not have sale.
How to go about it?
Style SKU Sale
ABC 111
ABC 222 Yes
ABC 333 Yes
ABC 444 Yes
ABC 555 Yes
DEF 1111 Yes
DEF 2222 Yes
DEF 3333 Yes
DEF 4444 Yes
DEF 5555 Yes
PQR 121 Yes
PQR 212 Yes
PQR 312 Yes
PQR 412 Yes
PQR 512 Yes
PQR 612 Yes
PQR 712 Yes
LMN 322 Yes
LMN 422 Yes
LMN 522 Yes
LMN 622
LMN 722
How do we check using vlookup which customer ordered Apple
Column A = Customer
Row 1A= John
Row 2A= Susan
Row 3A= Sherry
Column B = Product
Row 1B= Grapes,Apple
Row 2B= Apples,Lime
Row 3B= Pear,Pineapple
Hi Ablebits!
Thanks Very much! Your tutorials do me great job!
My vlookup dosent work out, it returns N/A i have tried all trouble shootslike advised.
Question; Can the version of excel be an issue, besides does the fomat of the cell be a matter.
waiting
Ronald
Hi Ronald,
Vlookup works in all versions of Excel, but the format of the cell can be an issue, for example a number formatted as text. You can find a list of the most common reasons for #N/A and other errors in this tutorial:
Excel VLOOKUP not working
how to concatenate a coloumn data from A1:A10 without using formula =CONCATENATE(A1&A2&A3&A4&A5&A6&A7&A8&A9&A10)
IS THERE ANY OTHER FORMULA FOR GOT CONCATENATE OF A1TOA10 CELLS VALUE AT ONCE
you can use cocat function in excel2019
=VLOOKUP(B$1,RT,2,)
Kindly Explain
Vlookup to get 2nd occurrence using Indirect function is not working. It's giving the first occurrence only. It's working in the sample file attached. But it's not working in real time scenarios.
Can Someone please advise me, how can i have value of one label appearing multiple times in Col-A and its return value in Col-B
For Ex
Col-A Col-B
ABC 1
ABC 2
ABC 3
XYZ 4
CBA 5
ABC 6
ABC 7
FFF 8
to other sheet like below
ABC 1
ABC 2
ABC 3
ABC 6
ABC 7
Thanks
Sudip
need a formula in vlookup for 2 scenario
HiHi,
I have query regarding find/search and vlookup.
I want find specific text from cell (string) and retrieve data from vlookup table by using this specific text.
e.g. “This is a boy” or “This is a girl” is in one cell.(there will more than 100 sentences) In Vlookup table Boy = Male and girl = Female.
I want display Male or Female in another cell of same sheet depends on cell string contains boy or girl.
Regards,
Pradeep
=IF(ISNA(MATCH(A2,Individual!$A$2:$A$108385,0)),VLOOKUP(A2,Individual!$A$2:$A$108385,C2&"/"&C3,FALSE)," ")
Row ID Relationship Name
132361 Father Buchi Ramulu
132361 Mother Sujatha
132364 Father Mahesh
132387 Father B.Ramulu
132387 Mother Kondamma
132390 Father Anjaneyulu
132390 Mother Laxmamma
This Row ID should match with other sheet Row ID and return father & mother name "Father/Mother" in single cell.
=CONCATENATE(B2&C2) 132361 Father Buchi Ramulu 132361 Father =VLOOKUP(CONCATENATE(F2&G2),A:D,4,0) Mother =VLOOKUP(CONCATENATE(F2&I2),A:D,4,0) =CONCATENATE(H2,"/",J2)
1. in other sheet, do text to column. Put Unique ID and Father and Mother in col.
2. First look up( concatenate father and id and mother and id) in Raw Data and look up through Lookup.
3. then concatenate mother and father.
Hi,
In the below formula what is the ! symbol for?
=LOOKUP(D26,'B:\HPServices\Current\[Material Price Book.xlsx]Material Pricing'!$B2:$B196,'B:\HPServices\Current\[Material Price Book.xlsx]Material Pricing'!$H2:$H196)
Brian
hi
i am learning excel and i am using a football table,what i`m stuck on is when i enter the weeks results i now want to be able to look for a teams name and be able to bring up its last 5 results to show its current form,i can do this with a pivot table but its time consuming doing every team i was wondering if it can be done to show the whole leagues current form
thanks
colin
My data is given below:
A B C D
Product Rohim korim jodu
TV 100 200 300
AC 301 302 303
FREEZER 3002 3005 3009
After enter the following data I need result (?)
A B C
Rohim TV ??? (result should be 100)
Korim AC ??? (result should be 302)
How can I do it with vlookup or other formula in column C . Pls help.
Hi,
How can i get different variable with same answer
For example
Name Roll nol
amit 1
vikas 2
ajeet 3
raj 4
manish 5
sanjeet 6
suraj 7
amit 8
Wonderful tutorials! How helpful!
I've looked for a vlookup formula to add figures with common letter code down columns. Example (Letters col. A, $Values col. B):
AAA $330
AAA $600
AAA $270
BBB $300
CCC $100
CCC $120
On my separate spreadsheet, I would like to add all AAA values in one cell, $1,200; all BBB $300; CCC $220, etc.
Thanks!
Hi,
i am having some product in my master sheet. and i am having month wise sheet like sheet 1= jan,sheet2= fab,...now i enter randomly product name in month wise sheet and his corresponding value. for using vlookup formula i collect corresponding product value from sheet1= jan by(=VLOOKUP(A9,'jan'!B7:F26,5,0). so now i want to collect value for same product in other remaning month and adding value form all month in master sheet. please help
Hi madam,
i refer above all step for my case, but still not found a solution. i have 2 kind of excel sheet. when i select one date in 1st sheet need to get 2 detail from another sheet according to selection data. i try to lot of time & through the every step. but couldn'd. please help me....
Hi, I'm trying to create a v-lookup formula that will look at the corresponding ID in column 1 of sheet1 (which contains my formula), then lookup the ID on sheet2 and bring in the data from column 7 of sheet2 IF... column 6 = 2019. I do v-lookups between sheets all the time and have been trying to put it together with an IF formula but I haven't been able to get it to work. Can you help?
hey; i need your help; i have a sheet containing 500 types of equipment each equipment has 2 or three prices and i need to get from it the min price , average and max prices and returning the supplier name for each value
dear, I need help. For Example, IF we have many entries against value "A" than how I can pick the latest date value using the formula in excel. and if I have many entries of different values how I can pick the latest date value. (Sorry For My English)
Multiple latest 6 dates from name A1 dates B2 on sheet 1 vertically (Name appears over 20 times with multiple names same quality of times & dates appears over 100 times with multiple dates same quality of times ) to return on another sheet 2 with all information horizontal in formula of latest date / second latest date / third latest date / & so on.
Name is the start A1 to match latest date B2 CRITICAL for rest of information B to AW
Have Changed work sheet 2 with name to start from A1
Oldest Dates B2 start from top of sheet with latest date at the bottom & keep adding to list to bottom
Have used ; =Vlookup(A4,Section!A:B,2,false) — found old date. NOT LATEST
{=Max(if(section!A4:A20000=A4,Section!B4:B20000))}
=Min. As above.
=Arrayformula(Vlookup (A4,section!A4:B20000,2,false))
If I have space between one date to the next date does this matter as I have separated all following dates?
Sheet size is 30 columns A - AW & rows 1 - 50,000 plus will grow in size with added information down the sheet.
I hope you can help with this formula to match dates & 6 latest in order & the information to the right of these dates.👍
Regards
Tony
Hi,
I'm sharing few data as given below..request you to please share the solution for this.
Raw Data Lookup_Value OutPut
NYM1035/323141085 323141085 NYM1035/323141085
1218454/UEI00007463 1218454 1218454/UEI00007463
1219385/UEI00007485
399152/919095
1200053831628 / 1200054080311
399381/919186
918447 / RAHUL.U713051981455
TXPC5141 / 323177477
YASWANTHUPUDI123406121991198/918491
sgumparthi3410061970989/918559
OLESH0000000659482052639/1GPZ070050
QFAM5567 / 323338673
323370031 / RIWR2689
323425520 / BVFG6740
YMUE0863 // 323284372
XKTM6146 // 323295089
5021777833/919207
NFBW0723 / 323276824
399514 // dsankar00615081968136
919240 / kashishkumar201902071989968
397760 / ME.PRITAMGHOSH10061992935
work book1
date card number reg amount
01/01/2019 1076206 60719 80.25
02/01/2019 1076206 60719 13.00
work book2
date card number reg amount
01/01/2019 1076206 60719 80.25
02/01/2019 1076206 60719 13.00
HOW TO RETURN THE CORRECT VALUE TO " WORK BOOK 1", if we used vlookup its return the first lookup value both card number. but it is wrong.
pls help
Hello
I need a vlookup formula which searches for the most correct result.
The situation is as follows. I have a table of hundreds of cities, there cities have specific numbers given. I want ecxell to give me the number of Vienna Oldtown even if I just type Vienn or oldtown.
Thx for your answer
Hi! I have a large database (over 12,000 rows and A to AZ columns) of a name dictionary. It is in constant flux, as some details change or new names come up. I need to prepare for publication a worksheet of all those names that have a certain info in one of the columns. I could do that by filtering, but I would need to stop updating the main database. Can I somehow create a linked worksheet with the names that CURRENTLY have that info but that gets automatically updated if changes (more names or change of info) occur in the main database? I could create a dynamic table and do a Vlookup, but I would get all the empty rows as well, which I don't need.
Thanks for your help.
Hi ,
Kindly Help With vlookup function of Below Criteria.
column A b
row 1 Type value
Row 2 Apple,mango = vlookup( ?? ) result should be 5
Data
column A b
row 1 Type value
Row 2 Apple 2
Row 3 mango 3
Hey guys can teach me. If I have entire of Emp Name with staff Id and Date. How am I going to run the VBA excel in a diffent worksheet.
Thank you
All angel
You can simply use this code
Sheets("Sheetname").range("Cell name").value
further i can teach you on team viewer.
+923220000671 is my whatsapp numebr.
i want get multipal value in sheet like, Amir Have got Amount 5 time and 5 payment are in different Row vloook will got 1st amount and sumif will count All amount but i want like this
1st Amount 151
2nd Amount 515
3rd 120
thank you so much.
you are my hero.
Hi
I need to vlookup (one column have part numbers) and
(another have part numbers in between - as separating 3 integers).
Eg. 12345678
123-456-78
but both are same.
Kindly assist me how to make it
Thanx
thank you so much.
Good day, I am busy with big recons. I want to match info lines (A-X) with info lines (Y-AV) but my key codes is in G and AD). How do I do 'n v-lookup dat say "match code in G with Code in AD, if it matches in the same line 227 it must say yes and if it doesn't match in the same line it must say false. I hope I make sense.