Ok, you have learned how to write vlookup formulas. You have also seen some pretty interesting examples of it (1, 2).
But how do you write better VLOOKUP formulas?
Here is a list of 6 tips that work wonders with VLOOKUP writing.
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Use named ranges
No one likes a VLOOKUP with lots of dollars and cell references. They are unreadable and difficult to debug. So, a better option is to use named ranges in lookup formulas. For eg: =VLOOKUP(valSalesPerson,tblData,3,FALSE) is much more easier to read and understand than =VLOOKUP(G5,$B$5:$G$17,3,FALSE)
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Make table / list references Absolute
When you need to write lookup formulas in a range of cells, the usual practice is to write first formula and then drag-fill. If you followed above advice and used named ranges, you should be ok with this approach. But if you do use cell references, make sure the table references are absolute, like this: $B$5:$G$17 instead of B5:G17. Here is a nice tutorial explaining the concept of cell references.
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Use Tables or Lists [Excel 2003 or above only]
Using named ranges or absolute references is good technique. But they suffer from one nagging limitation. If your source data (where you are looking up) grows or shrinks, you need to adjust the references. A better option? Use tables (or lists in 2003). Learn more about Excel Tables & how to use them.
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Check for Errors
VLOOKUP is a powerful formula, alright. But ask it to look up a value that is not the data and it acts up. So you need to handle this. The easiest method is to use IFERROR() formula. Like this: =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(…),”Oops, nothing found!”).
But, IFERROR is a new formula in Excel 2007, so if you are using 2003 or before versions you need to use ISERROR (), like this: =IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(…)),”Oops, nothing found!”,VLOOKUP(…))
But, there is another problem. The ISERROR() is not only lengthy, it is also ugly and inefficient as it calculates VLOOKUP twice. So a better approach is to use COUNTIF(), like this: =IF(COUNTIF(column, value you want to lookup)>0,VLOOKUP(…),”Oops, nothing found!”) [more: how to handle formula errors]
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Use 1 and 0 for last argument
While I do not recommend this, I have seen many do this in practice. You can use 1 and 0 for last argument in VLOOKUP to make the formula shorter. The formula =VLOOKUP(value, range, column #, FALSE) is same as =VLOOKUP(value, range, column #, 0). Similarly you can use 1 for TRUE.
What more, you can even omit the last argument if it is 0, like this: =VLOOKUP(value, range, column #, ) Remember, you must place a comma (,) after the column number if you are planning to use this.
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Use VLOOKUP only when you need it
Do you know that formulas like SUMIF() or SUMPRODUCT() can effectively replace VLOOKUP() formulas? For eg. the formula =SUMIF(lookup-range, lookup value, return column range) gives same value as =VLOOKUP(lookup value, total range, 2, false) ? [assuming there is only one match, return column range has numbers]
Similarly, if you just want to find whether a value is in a list or not, use COUNTIF() formula.
That is right. Not only formulas like SUMIF are better, they require no separate error handling. If the value cannot be found, they just return 0.
[Learn more about SUMIF & COUNTIF formulas]
Your suggestions for writing better VLOOKUP
What tips / ideas you follow for writing better lookup formulas? Please share using comment.s
Special Thanks to,
Vipul, Ayush Jain, Spotpuff, Glen Feechan, Dominik Petri, Lukas for their valuable tips & ideas. Click on their names to learn more on using VLOOKUP.
20 Responses to “Untrimmable Spaces – Excel Formula”
Hi Chandoo,
First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Wish you and your family another fruitful year ahead.
To answer your question: Power Query is the best way to trim. 🙂
Btw, if Power Query is not available, then formula would absolutely do... but did you forget to mention also Char 32?
One more question: Is the trailing minus meant to be a negative number? Maybe only the sender knows... 🙂
Cheers,
I just see your PQ way, it is amazing, I think it is the most simple way.
No idea how it did it?
I know these spaces can be a real pain but these days I advise Excel users to learn and use Flash Fill and that will learn what to do pretty quickly.
Highlight range to be cleaned. Then, in Replace, hold down the Alt key and type 0160. Replace with nothing.
I accomplished this by writing a macro to go through all the possible unprintable characters. Looped through the range.
@Steve
Brute force works just as well, its just slower
I use a different method here. First, I will copy the data from Excel and paste it in a notepad. In Notepad, I will do a Find Blanks (Space " ") and Replace (Empty) with nothing.
Then you can copy the data from Notepad and paste it back to Excel which will be a perfect number as you desire.
But Thanks for the formula. Its probably the 2nd out of 8 tricks as Chandoo mentioned. Waiting for the rest among 8 from other users 🙂
Hi....
You don't always need notepad for that. I use the Find/Replace is Excel works just fine.
I don't understand the x's. Why weren't they removed in the formula? Or are they part of some sort of numeric formatting that I'm not familiar with? I saw how you handled the non-breaking spaces and the dashes, but am confused about what role the x's played in all this.
Thanks!
Hi Andrew ,
The xs have been used solely to demarcate the actual data text ; thus , without the x in place at the end of text , as in :
x 4,124,500.00 x
it would be impossible to know that there are unwanted trailing characters , in this case , after the last 0.
These xs are not part of the original data text , nor are they used in the formulae ; they are put in only so that readers can visualize the individual items of data as they are in practice. Think of them as imaginary delimiters.
Oh, that makes sense! Thank you for the explanation. I had a feeling it was something along those lines.
You can type this character using the Keys Alt+0160.
Very useful to replace this Character using Find and Select resource.
For many years, my jobs have included ETL tasks and I built this macro to help long, long ago. I tweak it every now and again. Many co-workers, past and present, have it wired to a button on their toolbar.
Sub Clean_and_Trim()
'CAUTION: Strips leading zeroes -- do not use on zipcodes, etc.
If Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic Then
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
Revert = 1
ElseIf Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual Then
Revert = 0
End If
For Each Cell In Selection
For x = Len(Cell.Value) To 1 Step -1
If Asc(Mid(Cell.Value, x, 1)) = 160 Then
Cell.Replace What:=Chr(160), Replacement:=" ", LookAt:=xlPart, MatchCase:=True
End If
If Asc(Mid(Cell.Value, x, 1)) = 32 Then
Cell.Replace What:=Chr(32), Replacement:=" ", LookAt:=xlPart, MatchCase:=True
End If
Next x
If Cell.Value "" Then
Cell.Value = Application.Clean(Application.Trim(Cell.Value))
End If
Next
If Revert = 1 Then
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
ElseIf Revert = 0 Then
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
End If
End Sub
This is awesome! What if you have several characters you need to have removed? What would be the easiest way as I can imagine there are several ways.?
# - 35
$ - 36
- 62
/ - 47
, - 44
. - 46
" - 34
: - 58
This is typical case of a Fitbit data export to Csv file. Each number has CHAR160 as thousand separator.. how smart Fitbit, thank you 😉
By the way, i prefer to copy the character, and use find and replace.
Sometimes it happens if you copy a table from outlook and paste it in excel. When you apply formula on those cells you will get error. What i use to do is
copy one character that looks like space,
select the entire range,
go to Find and replace,
Paste the copied character in Find option
Leave the replace option unfilled..
click on replace all..
All the errors shall be converted in to proper values..
Process looks lengthier.. but it is one of the simplest method
If Clean, Trim, and Substitute, or Find and Replace does not complete the job, I usually enter a value of 1 in an empty cell. Copy the Value of 1, Highlight the range of text numbers, and Paste Special, Values, Multiply. This site is great!
You can use Dose for Excel Add-In that can quickly clean huge data with one click besides more than +100 new functions and features to add to your Excel to save time and effort.
https://www.zbrainsoft.com
Hi,
I have a problem in excel. The sheet attached herewith.
TABLE CONFIG 2/6
A B C D E F G H
1 WEIGHT1 43,599 WEIGH2 62500 WEIGHT3 77000 WEIGHT4 66,500
2 DEDUCTION1 15,000 DEDUCTION1 15,000 TEMP 0 DEDUCTION2 11,005
3 RESULT 58,599 RESULT-1 77,500 RESULT-2 77,000 RESULT-3 77,505
4 RESULT SUBSTRACT 0 0 0
5 REQUIRED VALUE 77,500 77,000 77,505
Note: 1- RESULT (58599) IS TO BE DEDUCTION EITHER FROM D4 OR F4 OR H4 WHICHEVER IS MOST
LEAST CELL AMONG RESULT-1 OR RESULT-2 OR RESULT 3.
2-HENCE, RESULT VALUE $B$3 IS TO BE PRESENTED ON CELL EITHER D4 OR F4 OR H4 WHICHER IS
MOST LEAST VALUE
3-FORMULA =IF(E8<H8,$B$9,IF(E8<J8,$B$9,IF(H8<J8,$B$9,IF(H8<E8,$B$9,IF(J8<H8,$B$9))))))
CREATED ON CELL D4,F4 & H4 DID NOT WORK.
PLS FOR YOUR HELP.
THANK YOU
@R
Why not ask the question in the Chandoo.org Forums
https://chandoo.org/forum/
You can attach a file there