Notice: This website is an unofficial Microsoft Knowledge Base (hereinafter KB) archive and is intended to provide a reliable access to deleted content from Microsoft KB. All KB articles are owned by Microsoft Corporation. Read full disclaimer for more details.

XL: How to Perform a Case-Sensitive Lookup


View products that this article applies to.

Summary

You can use LOOKUP functions in Microsoft Excel 97 and later to compare values to find an exact match, but the match is not case-sensitive. However, you can combine the LOOKUP functions with other built-in functions to perform a case-sensitive lookup.

↑ Back to the top


More information

You can use LOOKUP functions to return data from a list. The functions use a LOOKUP value to compare with the list. If a match is found, it returns data from the list. The data returned comes from the location that is specified in the function.

To force a lookup function to be case-sensitive, combine it with both the IF and EXACT functions. The following are examples of HLOOKUP, LOOKUP, VLOOKUP, and INDEX-MATCH combined with the IF and EXACT functions to perform case-sensitive searches.

HLOOKUP

In a new worksheet, type the following data:
   A1: NAME     B1: Mary     C1: Joe    D1: Bob     E1: Sue
   A2: AGE      B2: 32       C2: 48     D2: 53      E2: 27
   A3: joe
				
In any blank cell on the active worksheet, type the following formula:
=IF(EXACT(A3,HLOOKUP(A3,A1:E2,1))=TRUE,HLOOKUP(A3,A1:E2,2),"No exact match")
This formula returns "No exact match" because the lookup value in cell A3 does not use the same case as the entry in the table.

NOTE: To find a case-sensitive match, change the contents of cell A3 to Joe.

LOOKUP

In a new worksheet, type the following data:
   A1: NAME     B1: AGE     C1: joe
   A2: Mary     B2: 32
   A3: Joe      B3: 48
   A4: Bob      B4: 53
   A5: Sue      B5: 27
				
In any blank cell on the active worksheet, type the following formula:
=IF(EXACT(C1,LOOKUP(C1,A1:A5,A1:A5))=TRUE,LOOKUP(C1,A1:A5,B1:B5),"No exact match")
This formula returns "No exact match" because the lookup value in cell C1 does not use the same case as the entry in the table.

NOTE: To find a case-sensitive match, change the contents of cell C1 to Joe.

VLOOKUP

In a new worksheet, type the following data:
   A1: NAME     B1: AGE     C1: joe
   A2: Mary     B2: 32
   A3: Joe      B3: 48
   A4: Bob      B4: 53
   A5: Sue      B5: 27
				
In any blank cell on the active worksheet, type the following formula:
=IF(EXACT(C1,VLOOKUP(C1,A1:B5,1,FALSE))=TRUE,VLOOKUP(C1,A1:B5,2,FALSE),"No exact match")
This formula returns "No exact match" because the lookup value in cell C1 does not use the same case as the entry in the table.

NOTE: To find a case-sensitive match, change the contents of cell C1 to Joe.

INDEX-MATCH

In a new worksheet, type the following data:
   A1: NAME     B1: AGE     C1: joe
   A2: Mary     B2: 32
   A3: Joe      B3: 48
   A4: Bob      B4: 53
   A5: Sue      B5: 27
				
In any blank cell on the active worksheet, type the following formula:
=IF(EXACT(C1,INDEX(A1:B5,MATCH(C1,A1:A5,0),1))=TRUE,INDEX(A1:B5,MATCH(C1,A1:A5,0),2),"No exact match")
This formula returns "No exact match" because the lookup value in cell C1 does not use the same case as the entry in the table.

NOTE: To find a case-sensitive match, change the contents of cell C1 to Joe.

↑ Back to the top


References

Microsoft Excel 2000 and Microsoft Excel 2002

For more information about LOOKUP functions, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type lookup worksheet function in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

For more information about LOOKUP functions, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type
Lookup worksheet function
and then double-click the selected text to go to the "LOOKUP" topic.

↑ Back to the top


Keywords: KB214264, kbhowto

↑ Back to the top

Article Info
Article ID : 214264
Revision : 4
Created on : 1/24/2007
Published on : 1/24/2007
Exists online : False
Views : 488