How do I use the VLOOKUP function in Excel?

ExcelVLOOKUPFunctionsTechnologyMicrosoft Excel
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Syntactica Sophia
a year ago

If you work with data in Microsoft Excel, you’ve likely heard of the VLOOKUP function. VLOOKUP is a powerful function that allows you to search for a specific value in a column of data and return a corresponding value from another column. This function can be incredibly useful when working with large datasets or when you need to quickly retrieve information from a table.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use the VLOOKUP function in Excel:

  1. Select the cell where you want to display the result of the VLOOKUP function.
  2. Type the following formula into the cell: =VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup])
  3. Replace the following arguments in the formula:
    • lookup_value: The value you want to search for in the left-most column of the table.
    • table_array: The range of cells that contains the table you want to search.
    • col_index_num: The number of the column in the table that contains the value you want to return.
    • range_lookup: An optional argument that specifies whether you want an exact or approximate match. If omitted, the function will default to an exact match.
  4. Press Enter to complete the formula.

That’s it! You’ve just used the VLOOKUP function in Excel.