Using Excel Functions, such as VLOOKUP to compare two columns of text for similarities
My problem seems simple but I am struggling to figure it out. I have two columns of text. I am trying to see if the text in column B appears in column A. However, it is not always an exact match, and I basically want to check if column A contains the text that appears in column B. What is the best way to do this?
August 5th, 2013 11:19am

In C2, use a formula like

=IF(SUMPRODUCT(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH(B2,$A$1:$A$1000)))*1)>0,"Found","Not Found")

then copy down to match column B.

This formula will return "Found" when the entire contents a cell in B is found somewhere in any cell in A1:A1000.  E.G.,  "red" in B2 is found in cell A100 which contains "I have a red dog"


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August 5th, 2013 12:26pm

Hi,

I agree with Bernie.

Thanks to Bernie  for sharing solutions of the issue.


August 5th, 2013 9:53pm

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