vlookup and finding text string that's not an exact match

[Guest]

Hi there-

I'm trying to do a vlookup and trying to find a text string that is not an
exact match.

For example, my current formula is:
=VLOOKUP("laptop*", $B:$C,2,FALSE)

and if it matches any text with "laptop", e.g. "Sony laptop" in it, it
returns the second column corresponding cell.

Also, intead of writing out the text "laptop" I want to reference a cell
where the text is. So I want to do something like:

=VLOOKUP(D1*, $B:$C,2,FALSE)

But I get an error warning. Can anyone shed some light?

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Try this:

=VLOOKUP("*"&D1&"*",$B:$C,2,FALSE)

HTH,
Elkar

 

[Guest]

It works and kind of not works... If the text I'm looking up is something
like "laptop 2.0", it doesn't work if the range I'm looking in has "Sony
laptop 2.1", does it?

 

[Guest]

No, that wouldn't work. But, rather than trying to alter the formula, maybe
you should just be less specific in your search criteria. For example, if
you want "Sony Laptop 2.1" to be a match, try searching for "Laptop 2."
instead.

HTH,
Elkar

 

[russell.travison]

No, that wouldn't work. But, rather than trying to alter the formula, maybe
you should just be less specific in your search criteria. For example, if
you want "Sony Laptop 2.1" to be a match, try searching for "Laptop 2."
instead.

HTH,
Elkar






- Show quoted text -

Super tip - Thanks!