The tips in this article explain how to use two of the most
popular lookup functions: VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP. In
the function names, the V stands for vertical and the H
stands for horizontal. You use VLOOKUP when you need
to search through one or more columns of information, and
you use HLOOKUP when you need to search through one
or more rows of information.
Use VLOOKUP to search through columns of data
To start, download the Excel 2002 sample file: Lookup
Function Sample Data. The file uses fictitious data that
demonstrates my friend's problem. The file contains two
worksheets: Page Views and Pages. The Page Views sheet
contains a set of IDs that uniquely identify each site page,
plus information on the number of hits each page received
during September 2002. The Pages worksheet contains the
page IDs and the names of the pages that correspond to
each ID.
The page IDs appear in both worksheets because the source
database uses a normalized data structure. In that structure,
the IDs enable users to find the data for a given page. For a
gentle introduction to normalized data structures, see
Design Access databases with normal forms and Excel.
Because the data resides in columns, we'll use the
VLOOKUP function to enter a page ID on the first
worksheet and return the corresponding page name from
the second worksheet. Follow these steps:
1.
In the Page Views worksheet, click cell E3 and type
VLOOKUP.
2.
3.
In cell E4, type Result.
Click cell F4 and type this formula in either the cell or
the formula bar:
=VLOOKUP(F3,Pages!A2:B39,2,False)
Note #N/A appears in cell F4 because the function
expects to find a value in cell F3, but that cell is empty.
You'll add a value to cell F3 in the next step. For more
information about fixing #N/A errors, see Correct a
#N/A error.
4.
Copy the value from cell A4 into cell F3, and then
press ENTER. Home Page appears in cell F4.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 using the value in cell A5.
Comics & Humor appears in cell F4.
Without having to navigate to the second worksheet, you
found out which pages receive the majority of visits from
site users. That's the value of the lookup functions. You can
use them to find records from large data sets with less time
and effort.
Understanding the parts of the function
The function that you used in the previous section
performed several discrete actions. The following figure
describes each action:
The following table lists and describes the arguments that
you use with the function. As needed, the information
explains how to fix #VALUE and #REF errors that may
crop up when you use the functions. You need to know this
information to use the function successfully. The
HLOOKUP function uses the same syntax and arguments.
Part
Required? Purpose
=VLOOKUP() Yes
=HLOOKUP()
Function name. Like all
functions in Excel, you
precede the name with an
equal sign (=) and place the
required information (or, in
geek terms, the arguments)
in parentheses after the
function name. In this case,
you use commas to separate
all parameters or arguments.
Yes
Your search term: the word
or value that you want to
find. In this case, the search
term is the value that you
F3
enter into cell F3. You
could also embed one of the
page ID numbers directly
into the function. Excel
Help calls this part of the
function the lookup_value.
If you don't specify a search
value, or you reference a
blank cell, Excel displays
the #N/A error message.
Pages!A2:B39
Yes
The range of cells that you
want to search. In this case,
the cells reside on another
worksheet, so the worksheet
name (Pages) precedes the
range values (A2:B39). The
exclamation point (!)
separates the sheet reference
from the cell reference. If
you only want to search
through a range residing on
the same page as the
function, remove the sheet
name and exclamation
point.
You can also use a named
range in this part of the
function. For example, if
you assigned the name
"Data" to a range of cells on
the Pages worksheet, you
could use 'Pages'!Data.
Excel Help calls this part of
the function the
table_array value.
If you use a range lookup
value of TRUE, then you
must sort the values in the
first column of your
table_array argument in
ascending order. If you
don't, the function cannot
return accurate results.
2
Yes
The column in your defined
range of cells that contains
the values you want to find.
For example, column B in
the Pages worksheet
contains the page names
that you want to find. Since
B is the second column in
the defined range of cells
(A2:B39), the function uses
2. If your defined range
included a third column,
and the values you wanted
to find resided in that
column, you would use 3,
and so on.
Remember that the column's
physical position in the
worksheet does not matter.
If your cell range starts at
column R and ends at
column T, you use 1 to refer
to column R, 2 to refer to
column S, and so on.
Excel Help calls this part of
the function the
col_index_num value. If
you use the HLOOKUP
function, Excel Help calls
this part the
row_index_num value, and
you follow the same
guidelines.
Note If you use the wrong
value in this argument,
Excel displays an error
message. You can make
either of these errors:
If the value is less than
1, Excel displays
#VALUE!. To fix the
problem, enter a value of 1
or greater. For more
information about
#VALUE! errors see
Correct a #VALUE! error.
If the value exceeds the
number of columns in the
cell range, Excel displays
#REF! because the
formula can't reference the
specified number of
columns. For more
information about fixing
#REF errors, see Correct a
#REF! error.
False
Optional
Exact match. If you use
FALSE, VLOOKUP
returns an exact match. If
Excel cannot find an exact
match, it displays the #N/A
error message. For more
information about fixing
#N/A errors, see Correct a
#N/A error.
If you set the value to
TRUE or leave it blank,
VLOOKUP returns the
closest match to your search
term. If you set the value to
TRUE, you must sort the
values in the first column of
your table array in
ascending order.
Excel Help calls this part of
the function the
range_lookup value.
General guidelines for using the VLOOKUP function
Keep these rules in mind as you use the VLOOKUP
function:
If you want the function to return exact matches, you
must sort the values in your table array in ascending order
or the function will fail.
The function starts searching at the top left of the cell
range that you define, and it searches columns to the right
of your starting point.
You must always separate the arguments with comma.
Use the HLOOKUP function to search through rows
of data
The steps in the previous section used the VLOOKUP
function because the data resided in columns. The steps in
this section explain how to use the HLOOKUP function to
find data in one or more rows.
1.
In the Pages worksheet, copy the data in the cell range
A2 to B39.
2. Scroll to the top of the worksheet, right-click cell D2,
and then click Paste Special.
3.
In the Paste Special dialog box, select Transpose,
and then click OK. Excel pastes the data into two rows
starting at cell D2 and ending at cell AO3.
4. In the Page Views worksheet, type HLOOKUP in cell
E6, type Result in cell E7, and then enter this formula
into cell F7:
=HLOOKUP(F6,Pages!D2:AO3,2,FALSE)
5.
In cell F6, enter the ID from cell A4 and then press
ENTER. Home Page appears in cell F6. You get the
same type of result, but you searched through a set of
rows instead of columns.
The HLOOKUP function uses the same arguments as the
VLOOKUP function. However, instead of declaring the
column that contains the values you want to find, you
declare the row.
Next, let's look at an important principle that applies to
both functions. Go to the Pages worksheet and follow these
steps:
1.
In cells D4 through M4, type anything that comes to
mind. You can type anything you want, just add some
text or numbers to those cells.
2. On the Page Views worksheet, alter the HLOOKUP
formula so it reads as follows:
=HLOOKUP(F6,Pages!D2:AO4,3,FALSE)
When you finish changing the formula, the value you
entered in cell D4 appears. Here's the principle to keep in
mind: The value that you want to find does not have to
reside in a cell next to your match value. It can reside in
any number of columns to the right of your match value, or
in any number of rows below your match value. Just make
sure that you extend your table_array and col_index_num
or row_index_num arguments so that they encompass the
values that you want to find.
General guidelines for using the HLOOKUP function
Keep these rules in mind as you use the HLOOKUP
function:
The function starts searching at the top left of the cell
range that you define, and it searches the rows below and
to the right of your starting point.
You must always separate the arguments with
commas.
If you want the function to return exact matches, you
must sort the values in your data in ascending order. Yes,
you can sort horizontally. To do so, follow these steps:
1.
In the Pages worksheet, click cell D2.
2.
On the Data menu, click Sort.
3.
In the Sort dialog box, click Options.
4.
In the Sort Options dialog box, click Sort left to
right, and then click OK.
5.
In the Sort dialog box, click OK to sort the data.
In the next Power User column
The next Power User column, More ways to use HLookup
and VLookup functions, explains how to:
Use ToolTips to write functions.
Use a mix of absolute and relative cell references to
return multiple records.
Debug your functions.
Use the Lookup Wizard. The wizard automates the
process of finding data, but it uses the INDEX and
MATCH functions instead of the HLOOKUP and
VLOOKUP functions.
More information
For more information about using the VLOOKUP and
HLOOKUP functions, including code samples, see Help
in Excel.
About the author
Colin Wilcox writes for the Office Help team. In addition
to contributing to the Office Power User Corner column, he
writes articles and tutorials for Microsoft Data Analyzer.
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