Conditional Formula Words

[Fab]

Okay here we go.

I need to create a Conditional Formula that

1. Identifies the words i.e. Single Adult or Single Adult + 1 Child and then
returns the number 1 or 2.

This is so I can count the people. With me so far.

Here is the issue

I have 50 Different Family Compliments (Single Adult) to do this on and need
a formula that can handle it.

HELP - I can e-mail the spreadsheet if you need it.

 

[ozgrid.com]

Use a Lookup table
http://www.ozgrid.com/Excel/lookup-table.htm

 

[Fab]

Okay let me clarify a bit there needs to be 50 arguements in this formula as
there are 50 different types of Family Compliments ranging from:

Single Adult - which would equal 1 through to
Couple + 10 Children - which would equal 12

 

[Fred Smith]

Personally, I would still use the lookup table. You have to type the 50
entries only once.

However, if for some reason you insist on another solution, it won't be
easy. You can scan for "Adult" and "Couple" pretty easily (using Countif for
example). For "Children", you need to do a Find to determine whether it's in
the cell, then back up one or two characters from that position to determine
the number.

Regards,
Fred

 

[JLatham]

I concur with all the above: use a lookup table. It doesn't have to be on
the same sheet with the data you're working with. Phrases in column A, #
people equivalent in column B.
If you're family 'phrase' is in column X on a sheet, then a formula like:
=VLOOKUP(X2,'Table Sheet Name'!$A$1:$B$50,2,FALSE) will return the people
equivalent values.
No way are you going to nest 50 IF() statements and make any sense of it all
later. And until Excel 2007 you're limited to 7 levels of nesting anyhow.