From the course: Excel: Lookup Functions in Depth

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 23,200 courses taught by industry experts.

Locate data with the MATCH function

Locate data with the MATCH function

From the course: Excel: Lookup Functions in Depth

Start my 1-month free trial Buy for my team

Locate data with the MATCH function

“

- [Instructor] On this worksheet called match, we've got some data over in columns A, B, and C. It's a little over 200 rows. And column A, I've got some Social Security numbers here, I simply want to know do they exist in the list? So in cell F2 here, I'll use the function called match. Often match is straightforward, easy to use. I've got a lookup value, it's in cell E2, I'm trying to see if it exists over in column B. It's a good idea in examples like this for a couple of reasons to use the entire column reference. If you're going to be making checks like this frequently, if the list grows or shrinks, when you use a column reference, you don't have to worry about adjusting the address. And also, when we see the answer too, you'll see the advantage. So we're trying to find this Social Security number in cell E2. We're looking over in column B, and with ID type numbers and certainly this one. We're looking for an exact…

Contents