I'm trying to use the approximate match function of vlookup to find a value in an array, that can be of different length. I just dragged the lookup array as far down as possible in order to assure that all data is selected, however, the approximate match option will then always select the last value in the array. Is there a way of feeding vlookup the correct lookup array in order to extract the correct value? Regards
1 Answers
0
votes
Create a dynamic range name and feed that into the Vlookup. For example, if your lookup table starts in A1 and has numeric data, define a name called TheRange with the formula
=Sheet1!$A$1:Index(Sheet1!$D:$D,match(99^99,Sheet1!$A:$A,1))
This will return a range from A1 to column D down to the last row with a number in column A. When rows are added or removed from the table, the named range will be recalculated automatically and adjust to the new dimensions.
Then can use
=vlookup(YourValue,TheRange,2,1)
Adjust cell addresses to your situation. I take it you are aware that for an approximate match the data must be sorted ascending for the formula to return the correct result. With the 1 or TRUE as the last parameter, the formula will always return a result, but if the table is not sorted on the first column, the result is most likely not correct.
