Using Parsed String Results in VLOOKUP

[pmind]

Hello All, I am trying to use the results of a parsed string in
VLOOKUP, but keep getting #N/A. For example, I have cell A2 containing
the value 12345678, I then extract the first two numbers ("12") to
cell A5 using =LEFT(A2,2). No problem so far, but it's when I try to
use =VLOOKUP(A5,C28,2,FALSE), that I get the #N/A. If I manually
type the value "12" into cell A6 and change the reference in the
VLOOKUP to A6 instead of A5, the lookup works fine, so the table
(C28) is okay. All I am left to conclude is that I can not use the
results of a parsed string in VLOOKUP, or at least not in the manner
that I'm parsing it. Is it possible? Does anyone know a better way? My
VBA is not too strong, but I'm more than willing to give that a try as
well. Thanks.

 

[Dave Peterson]

=left(a2,2)
will return the text '12 (not the number 12).

So you could use:
=--left(a2,2)
the first minus coerces the string to a number, but the opposite sign. The
second minus changes the sign back to the original.

Or you could use:
=vlookup(--a5, ....

 

[pmind]

=left(a2,2)
will return the text '12 (not the number 12).

So you could use:
=--left(a2,2)
the first minus coerces the string to a number, but the opposite sign.  The
second minus changes the sign back to the original.

Or you could use:
=vlookup(--a5, ....

Thanks Dave, both solutions work great!