Like our FALSE result above, VLookUp returns #N/A, telling us the thing we’re looking up is “not available.” The “where” or Table Array field should be expressed as an Absolute Cell Reference ($A$1) or a named range so it doesn’t “travel” as we copy our formula down the list. And, we want Excel to tell us if it can’t find it, we tell it not to return something close to our value (range), but our value exactly. The which column is the same column we’re looking it up in, so 1. So, the “what” is the value we want to look up. In our case, we’re only comparing two columns, one in each of two separate lists. What do you want Excel to do if it can’t find it?.Which column do you want Excel to return if it finds it?.The syntax of a VLookUp formula can be thought of in this way: Let’s see how we can use VLookUp to do this for us, faster. Otherwise you might highlight it or circle it if it was not found in the other list. If you find it, you might check it off or cross it off one of the lists, meaning it was found. With the other finger, you’re moving down the list of likely values with the expectation that you’ll find it. You have a value from one list that you’re pointing to with one finger. Think about what you do manually to compare two lists you may have printed out. This can be done across worksheets or even workbooks! Method Two: VLookUpĭon’t run away! Even if you’ve never worked with a VLookUp before, this method is a good one to learn it on. In the sample workbook, with any value in column C selected, click on the Conditional Formatting button on the Home tab and choose Manage Rules to see how to highlight a whole row based on the value in one column. To see just your FALSE values, you can filter or apply Conditional Formatting to highlight the false ones. Excel says “No it’s not!” by returning the value FALSE. So, these appear as FALSE in the third column where the formula attempts to state that the value in column B is equal to the value in column C. In our example, we see that Ali Mazzurah’s name has a missing h at the end, and Kathleen Kelly’s name appears with her middle initial V. If they are, Excel returns the value TRUE. If they are not equal, Excel returns the value FALSE. If you have two lists that should be identical, but you suspect they might not be, you can put in a simple formula that sets one cell equal to another. Note: All values will appear highlighted on the This Equals That Worksheet, initially. If you find any difficulty or don’t yield required results by following above process or using script, comment.By Melissa Esquibel Categories: Conditional Formatting, Excel®, VLOOKUP Tags: Comparing Columns in Excelĭid you ever squint at two columns of data and examine them row by row to compare the values? Excel can do all that hard work for you in three different ways.ĭownload CompareColumnsinExcel.xlsx to follow along. This script will compare file2 with file1, extract similar data from file1 and put it in output.csv. Please consider this batch script is written specifically for these csv and prove my understanding. You can observer in output here, if I change the value of ID in File2 which doesn’t exist, VLookup returns #N/A.ĭescriptions in details for this function and each respected field are easily available in excel help.īatch script to compare and assign value-simulate vlookup:įurther I came up with a batch script to compare field value, simulate vlookup. After doinglittle testing, I managed to fix it.įor /f “tokens=1 delims=, skip=1” %%i in (File2.csv) do “%%i,” File1.csv >nul & If errorlevel 0 if not errorlevel 1 (for /f “tokens=1,2 delims=,” %%m in (‘findstr /i /L “%%i,” File1.csv’) do %%m,%%n>output.csv echo %%i)) else (echo %%i,NA>output.csv).Optionally you may copy and paste it from rows B3 to B9 to lookup and fill all values. You may drag the command to other rows and values will get filled.Click ok, and you will find B2 will be filled with respective value.Put FALSE in Range_lookup to do exact match.If lookup succeeds in finding lookup_value in Table_array it will return 2nd value as result. Select two column for comparison starting from second row, i.e. Click back in Table_array text field, and click on button to select range.Under lookup_value, click first search field: A2.Click on fx button and select VLOOKUP function.
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