lookup function ?

[Jeff]

I am trying to figure out how to accomplish this task and
am not sure which formula to use or how to write it.
In column B is a list of items that are not contingous
nor sorted,in column C is corresponding data relevant to
the data in column B. Column C uses "list" data
validation to select from the data in column B. I want to
create a formula in column D that looks at all of the
data in column B and upon finding the cell reference that
matches return the data in the same row from column B.
I have looked at the vlookup, hlookup and lookup
functions but none of them seem to do what I am trying to
achieve. Anyone that knows how to do this and can explain
how to acomplish this task I will be very gratful.

Thanks for any help that you can provide.

Jeff

 

[dvt]

In column B is a list of items that are not contingous
nor sorted,in column C is corresponding data...

I want to
create a formula in column D that looks at all of the
data in column B and upon finding the cell reference that
matches return the data in the same row from column B.

Did you mean "return the data in the same row from column C?"

I think you were looking in the right places. I think the VLOOKUP function
is the one you want, but you need to enter FALSE for the range_lookup
option. Check it out in the help.

If your data is in B1:C10, enter this formula in cell D1:

=VLOOKUP(15,B1:C10,2,FALSE)

Now if the value 15 exists in B3, the formula will return the value from
cell C3. If the value 15 does not exist in B1:B10, you will get #N/A for
your result.

Dave
dvt at psu dot edu