How to transpose a values in a row to column using formulas… [Quick tip]

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This is interesting, I am in Columbus to meet one of my college friends. I remember him as a very meticulous person from college days. So it is no surprise when he showed me his massively impressive finance tracker last night. He has been tracking expenses, income, credit card payments and gas (petrol) consumption since 2008. Very impressive indeed.

Then out of blue he said, he has a problem with his spreadsheet. In this own words,

When entering data for credit cards, I use one column per card. But in my report view, I want to show credit card details in rows. How do I do this?

Something like this:

How to transpose a values in a row to column using formulas...

Transposing values in a row to column using formulas

If it is a one time process, my friend can use Paste Special > Transpose feature and be done. But this is no one time business. So lets understand which formula helps us do this.

  1. Lets assume original data is in $F$4:$J$5. Row 4 has card names & Row 5 has amounts.
  2. Wherever you want the out put, just list running numbers (1,2,3….) in a column. Lets say these are in cells D10:D14.
  3. To get the first card name, you can use the formula =INDEX($F$4:$J$4, $D10)
  4. To get the first amount due, use the formula =INDEX($F$5:$J$5, $D10)
  5. Now drag both these formulas down and you are done!

This is good, but I don’t like the extra column…

If that is the case, you can use the ROWS() formula to generate these running numbers for you on the fly. For example,

=INDEX($F$4:$J$4, ROWS($A$1:A1)) would work perfectly.

Learn more about: using ROWS / COLUMNS formula to generate running numbers.

Play with this formula

See the embedded Excel workbook below. Play with the formula.

(alternatives: download the example file or view it online)

How do you transpose values?

I love using INDEX formula. I use it for transposing values, tables, getting a cell value (or reference) from a large table, use it along with MATCH etc. It is a very versatile formula and I keep learning new uses for it.

What about you? Do you transpose values often? What formulas do you use? Please share using comments.

More on transposing your data:

If you like to transpose, wrestle or arm twist your data often, then you are at right place. Chandoo.org has tons of tutorials, material and tricks on this. Start with these:

Also, check out more quick tips.

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12 Responses to “Analyzing Search Keywords using Excel : Array Formulas in Real Life”

  1. Very interesting Chandoo, as always. Personally I find endless uses for formulae such as {=sum(if(B$2:B$5=$A2,$C$2$C$5))}, just the flexibility in absolute and relative relative referencing and multiple conditions gives it the edge over dsum and others methods.

    I've added to my blog a piece on SQL in VBA that I think might be of interest to you http://aviatormonkey.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/lesson-one-sql-in-vba/ . It's a bit techie, but I think you might like it.

    Keep up the good work, aviatormonkey

  2. Andy Pope says:

    Hi Chandoo,

    You might find this coded solution I posted on a forum interesting.

    http://www.excelforum.com/excel-programming/680810-create-tag-cloud-in-vba-possible.html

  3. [...] under certain circumstances.  One of the tips involved arranging search keywords in excel using Array Forumlas.  Basically, if you need to know how frequent a word or group of keywords appear, you can use this [...]

  4. Chandoo says:

    @Aviatormonkey: Thanks for sharing the url. I found it a bit technical.. but very interesting.

    @Andy: Looks like Jarad, the person who emailed me this problem has posted the same in excelforum too. Very good solution btw...

  5. bob says:

    Realy great article

    "You can take this basic model and extend it to include parameters like number of searches each key phrase has, how long the users stay on the site etc. to enhance the way tag cloud is generated and colored."

    How would you go about doing this? I think it would need some VB

  6. Thiago says:

    Hi,
    I found the usage very interesting, but is giving me hard time because the LENs formula that use ranges are not considering the full range, in other words, the LEN formula is only bringing results from the respective "line" cell.

    Using the example, when I place the formula to calculate the frequency for "windows" brings me only 1 result, not 11 as displayed in the example. It seems that the LEN formula using ranges is considering the respective line within the range, not the full range.

    Any hint?

  7. Hui... says:

    @Thiago
    You have to enter the formula as an Array Formula
    Enter the Formula and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter
    Not just Enter

  8. Gary says:

    is there a limit to the number of lines it can analyse.
    Ie i am trying to get this to work on a list of sentances 1500 long. 

    • Hui... says:

      @Gary
      In Excel 2010/2013 Excel is only limited by available memory,
      So just give it a go
      As always try on a copy of the file first if you have any doubts

  9. Sumit says:

    Apologies if I am missing something, but coudn't getting frequency be easier with Countif formula. Something like this - COUNTIF(Range with text,"*"&_cell with keyword_&"*")

  10. Ray says:

    Apologies if I missed, but what is the Array Formula to:

    1. Analyze a list of URL's or a list of word phrases to understand frequency;
    2. List in a nearby column from most used words to least used words;
    3. Next to the list of words the count of occurrences.

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