Use the INDEX and MATCH function to Lookup Value in Excel

In this article, we will learn How to Use the INDEX and MATCH function to Lookup Value in Excel.

INDEX & MATCH function to replace vlookup function

We usually use the VLOOKUP function to find a value knowing the row Index and column number. For the VLOOKUP function we need to have the column number and row matching criteria and the most crucial thing the value to find out to be on the right of matching value. But the data doesn't always support that. Many times we need to just look up values not knowing the row or column index, just having the values to match. For example: finding the salary of an employee having Employee ID. In this we will look for Employee ID for row index and Salary for column index. Let's learn how we can do this lookup using INDEX & MATCH.

How to Solve the Problem?

For the formula to understand first we need to revise a little about the following functions

1. INDEX function
2. MATCH function

Now we will make a formula using the above functions. Match function will return the index of the lookup value1 in the row header field. And another MATCH function will return the index of the lookup value 2 from the column header field. The index numbers will now be fed into the INDEX function to get the values under the lookup value from the table data.

Generic Formula:

data : array of values inside the table without headers

lookup_value1 : value to lookup in the row_header.

row_headers : Row Index array to lookup.

lookup_value1 : value to lookup in the column_header.

column_headers : column Index array to lookup.

Example:

The above statements can be complicated to understand. So let’s understand this by using the formula in an example

Here we have a list of scores gained by students with their Subject list. We need to find the Score for a specific Student (Gary) & Subject (Social Studies) as shown in the snapshot below.

The Student value1 must match the Row_header array and Subject value2 must match the Column_header array.

Use the formula in the J6 cell:

Explanation:

• The MATCH function matches the Student value in J4 cell with the row header array and returns its position 3 as a number.
• The MATCH function matches the Subject value in J5 cell with the column header array and returns its position 4 as a number.
• The INDEX function takes the row and column index number and looks up in the table data and returns the matched value.
• The MATCH type argument is fixed to 0. As the formula will extract the exact match.

Here values to the formula is given as cell references and row_header, table and column_header given as named ranges.

As you can see in the above snapshot, we got the Score obtained by student Gary in Subject Social Studies as 36 .  And it proves the formula works fine and for doubts see the below notes for understanding.

Now we will use the approximate match with row headers and column headers as numbers. Approx match only takes the number values as there is no way it applies on text values

Here we have a price of values as per the Height & Width of the product. We need to find the Price for a specific Height (34) & Width (21) as shown in the snapshot below.

The Height value1 must match the Row_header array and Width value2 must match the Column_header array.

Use the formula in the K6 cell:

Explanation:

• The MATCH function matches the Height value in K4 cell with the row header array and returns its position 3 as a number.
• The MATCH function matches the Width value in K5 cell with the column header array and returns its position 2 as a number.
• The INDEX function takes the row and column index number and looks up in the table data and returns the matched value.
• The MATCH type argument is fixed to 1. As the formula will extract the approximate match.

Here values to the formula is given as cell references and row_header, data and column_header given as named ranges as mentioned in the snapshot above.

You can also perform lookup exact matches using INDEX and MATCH function in Excel. Learn more about How to do Case Sensitive Lookup using INDEX & MATCH function in Excel. You can also look up for the partial matches using the wildcards in Excel.

As you can see in the above snapshot, we got the Price obtained by height (34) & Width (21) as 53.10 .  And it proves the formula works fine and for doubts see the below notes for more understanding.

Notes: 

1. The function returns the #NA error if the lookup array argument to the MATCH function is 2 D array which is the header field of the data..
2. The function matches the exact value as the match type argument to the MATCH function is 0.
3. The lookup values can be given as cell reference or directly using quote symbol ( " ) in the formula as arguments.

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Use INDEX and MATCH to Lookup Value : The INDEX-MATCH formula is used to lookup dynamically and precisely a value in a given table.  This is an alternative to the VLOOKUP function and it overcomes the shortcomings of the VLOOKUP function.

Use VLOOKUP from Two or More Lookup Tables : To lookup from multiple tables we can take an IFERROR approach. To lookup from multiple tables, it takes the error as a switch for the next table. Another method can be an If approach.

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