Unexpected Results with Mixed Text and Numbers in Lookup Table (113261)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Excel for Windows 95
- Microsoft Excel for Windows 5.0
- Microsoft Excel for Windows 4.0
- Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh 4.0
- Microsoft Excel for the Power Macintosh 5.0
This article was previously published under Q113261 For a Microsoft Excel 97 and later version of this article, see 213476.
For a Microsoft Excel 98 version of this article, see 200855.
SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Excel 7.0 and earlier, when you create a lookup table, the lookup functions
may return the #N/A error value, or, if you are using the functions in a
Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications procedure or macro, you may receive
a "type mismatch" error, even though the values in the lookup table are
sorted in ascending order and the value being looked up appears to fall
within the range of the lookup table values.
CAUSE
When you look up a text value, Microsoft Excel looks only at the text
values in your table. Similarly, when you look up a numeric value,
Microsoft looks only at the numeric values.
MORE INFORMATIONMicrosoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.
If the first column (VLOOKUP) or row (HLOOKUP) of your lookup table
contains both text and numeric values, you can use Microsoft Excel to sort
your table in ascending order. In this case, the numeric values will appear
at the beginning of the table and the text values will appear at the end of
the table. Both text and numbers are then sorted as expected.
For example, the following values:
A1: 3
A2: 1
A3: c
A4: 2
A5: d
A6: b
will be sorted as:
A1: 1
A2: 2
A3: 3
A4: b
A5: c
A6: d
However, if you attempt to use a lookup function to locate a text value
that is less than the first text value, the lookup the function returns the
#N/A error value.
It may appear that =VLOOKUP("a",A1:A6,1) should return the value 3, which
is the largest value that is less than the lookup value a. However, the
formula returns the #N/A error value instead. This behavior also occurs
with HLOOKUP(), LOOKUP(), and MATCH() with Match Type arguments of 1 or
negative one -1.
The same behavior also holds true if you attempt to look up a numeric
value that is less than the first numeric value in your lookup table.
Sample Visual Basic Macro Using VLookup
Sub test()
MsgBox Application. _
VLookup("a", Workbooks("book1.xls"). _
Worksheets("sheet1").Range("hi"), 1, False)
End Sub
Note that in order to test this sample macro, you must create a range on
sheet1 in book1 similar to the sample range above, and you must give the
range the defined name hi.
Method 1: Include Minimum and Maximum Values for Both Text and Numbers
If you want your lookup table to be split into separate tables for text and
numbers (the default), you must include minimum values for both the text
and the numeric values in your lookup table.
Zero is the lowest positive integer and the blank space character is the
lowest printable text character.
Method 2: Format All Cells as Text
If you want the table to behave the way it appears after it is sorted by
Microsoft Excel, such that it returns the highest numeric value if a text
value is looked up, then you must treat your table as text only. The
following are two ways to do this:
- Enter every cell in your table as text. Numeric values can be entered as
text by typing an apostrophe before the value (versions of Microsoft
Excel earlier than 5.0) or by formatting the cells as text (Microsoft
Excel version 5.0).
-or-
- Convert the lookup table and the value you are looking up to text by
entering your formula into an array formula. The following is an example
that assumes the value to be looked up is located in cell B1:
=VLOOKUP(TEXT(B1,"@"),TEXT(A1:A6,"@"),1)
NOTE: The above formula must be entered as an array formula. To enter a
formula as an array formula in Microsoft Excel for Windows, press
CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER and press COMMAND+RETURN in Microsoft Excel for the
Macintosh.
REFERENCES
For more information about Lookup Functions, choose the Search button in
Help and type:
For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for
Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
163435
VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
Applications
Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 10/11/2006 |
---|
Keywords: | kbdtacode kbprb kbProgramming KB113261 |
---|
|