Managing Data with Microsoft® Excel

Using VLOOKUP

The last section discussed one way to manage arrays of data using INDEX along with MATCH. Another closely related technique uses VLOOKUP. Unlike MATCH, VLOOKUP returns a value, not a position in a range, so it's seldom necessary to pair VLOOKUP with a function such as INDEX.

As a practical matter, VLOOKUP requires a range of at least two columns, but you often use it to return a value from a range with three or more columns. The distinction is similar to one you've just seen. Compare Figure 2.6 (two columns: one for quantity and one for percentages) with Figure 2.9 (seven columns: one for quantity and six for percentages).

Using VLOOKUP with a Two-Column Range

To use VLOOKUP with a two-column range, you need lookup values in the ...