When the user uses the vlookup function for finding specific information in an MS Excel spreadsheet, each matching information is displayed in the same row but in the next column. This function performs a vertical lookup by searching for a value in the first column of a table and returning the value in the same row in the index number position.
What does VLOOKUP stand for?
VLOOKUP is a function to lookup up and retrieve data in a table. The “V” in VLOOKUP stands for vertical, which means the data in the table must be arranged vertically, with data in rows. (For horizontally structured data, see HLOOKUP).
How to use VLOOKUP in Excel?
V lookup function is used to lookup the value with a reference cell and fetch the value from the selected lookup table array and is quite useful and one of the most widely used excel functions. We can use a table or single column to lookup the value. And all the lookup can be done in a vertical zone or with columns only.
Firstly before we supply lookup value to the VLOOKUP function we need to convert the numerical looking text value to the actual number, so nest the function VALUE inside the VLOOKUP to convert it to number. Open VLOOKUP & VALUE in the same formula as shown in the below image. Select the lookup value.
What are the limitations of the Excel VLOOKUP function?
Here is an important list of things to remember about the Excel VLOOKUP Function: When range_lookup is omitted, the VLOOKUP function will allow a non-exact match, but it will use an exact match if one exists. The biggest limitation of the function is that it always looks right.
Another frequently asked inquiry is “What are the common problems with VLOOKUP?”.
A common problem with VLOOKUP is a mismatch between numbers and text. Either the first column in the table contains lookup values that are numbers stored as text, or the table contains numbers, but the lookup value itself is a number stored as text.
Does excel vlookup work for text?
V LOOKUP can search for textual values just as well as it can search for numbers. The example above would search for the product names, which are text rather than numbers.
Moreover, how do I use the VLOOKUP function to retrieve text?
To use the VLOOKUP function to retrieve information from a table where the key values are numbers stored as text, you can use a formula that concatenates an empty string (“”) to the numeric lookup value, coercing it to text. In the example shown, the formula in H3 is:.