The Excel VLOOKUP function

The Excel VLOOKUP function

 'looks up' a given value in the left-hand column of a data array (or table), and returns the corresponding value from another column of the array.
The format of the function is:

VLOOKUP( lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup] )

where the arguments are as follows:

lookup_value	-	The value that you want to look for, in the left-hand column of the supplied data array
table_array	-	The data array or table, that you want to search the left hand column of, for the supplied lookup_value
col_index_num	-	The column number, within the supplied array, that you want the corresponding value to be returned from
[range_lookup]	-	An optional logical argument, which can be set to TRUE or FALSE, meaning : TRUE - If the function cannot find an exact match to the supplied lookup_value, it should use the closest match below the supplied value (Note: If range_lookup is set to TRUE, the left-hand column of the table_array must be in ascending order) FALSE - if the function cannot find an exact match to the supplied lookup_value, it should return an error

Vlookup Examples

Vlookup Example 1

In the spreadsheet below, columns A and B list an inventory of grocery items, and their prices, and cell E2 of the spreadsheet shows a simple example of the Vlookup function being used to look up the price of an item from the inventory.

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Item Description	Cost ($)		Current Item:	Current Item Cost ($)
2	Tinned Tomatoes	$0.90		Cornflakes	=VLOOKUP( D2, A:B, 2, FALSE )
3	Tinned Tuna	$1.50
4	Cornflakes	$3.50
5	Shortcake Biscuits	$1.00
6	Toothpaste	$4.10
7	Tinned Baked Beans	$0.99
8	White Sliced Bread	$0.80
9	. . .	.   .   .

The above Vlookup function returns the price for "Cornflakes", which is $3.50.
In this example:

-	the lookup_value is the text string "Cornflakes", which is located in cell D2
-	the table_array is columns A-B of the spreadsheet
-	the col_index_num is set to 2, to denote that the value returned should be taken from column 2 of the table_array
-	the range_lookup argument is set to FALSE, to indicate that we only want a result to be returned if an exact match to the lookup_value is found