We all know that VLOOKUP can find first match and return the results. But what if you want to VLOOKUP multiple matches? Use this simple trick instead.
Multiple matches in Excel lookups
The problem is simple as illustrated below. Say you have a bunch of dates & locations. You want to find out corresponding date(s) for a location. If you use either VLOOKUP or INDEX+MATCH, you just get the first date, but you want them all.
In new version of Excel (2019), you can use awesome formulas like FILTER() to do exactly this, but most of us are still stuck in older version of Excel. So how to get all the matches?
The trick – Use TEXTJOIN…
TEXTJOIN is a text combining function available on Excel 365. We can it to solve our multiple matches problem.
Let’s say our data is in a table named plan. We want to lookup the location in cell G7 and return all matching dates.
We can use below TEXTJOIN formula (you must press Ctrl+Shift+Enter) to get result as this is an array formula.
=TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE, IF(plan[Location]=G7,
TEXT(plan[Date],"dddd dd-mmm"),""))
How this multiple match formula works?
Let’s go from inside out.
- IF(plan[Location]=G7 this part checks every location in the plan table and returns a bunch of TRUE or FALSE values. The end result would be an array like this. {FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE; TRUE;TRUE;TRUE; FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE}
- TEXT(plan[Date], “dddd dd-mmm”) this part takes all the dates in plan table and converts them to dddd dd-mmm format (ie 18/05/2019 becomes Saturday 18-May). The end result would be another array of dates formatted.
- IF(plan[Location]=G7, TEXT(plan[Date],”dddd dd-mmm”),””) this entire IF formula results in either a bunch of formatted dates or blanks, based on whether plan[Location] matches G7 or not. So we get something like this. {“”;””;””;””;””;””;””;””;”Saturday 18-May”;”Sunday 19-May”;”Monday 20-May“;””;””;””;””;””;””;””;””}
- TEXTJOIN(“, “,TRUE, IF()) this is the final part of the puzzle. TEXTJOIN takes individual bits of the array in #3 and combines them with delimiter , (comma space) but ignores any blanks (TRUE as second parameter). The final result is one text that goes like – Saturday 18-May, Sunday 19-May, Monday 20-May
Why bother with TEXT(plan[Date], “dddd dd-mmm”)?
If you don’t use TEXT() to convert your dates, you get something like this instead – 43603, 43604, 43605. This is because Excel dates are really just numbers. So when you use them in any formula you just get the underlying number value. This is why TEXT() formula is so helpful.
Related: Top 10 tips for working with Excel date & time values.
Still confused? Multiple Matches in Excel – Trick
Not sure how all of this works? Check out below video to understand this trick in detail. You can also watch this on my YouTube channel.
Download VLOOKUP Multiple Matches workbook
I made an example workbook with this formula technique. Click here to download or see this in action online here.
HELP! I don’t have TEXTJOIN()
As mentioned earlier, TEXTJOIN is available in Excel 365 or 2019 + only. So if you are using an older version of Excel, you should use one of the below techniques to get multiple matches.
And yeah, while you are polishing your lookup saw, why not also read these..
How do you multiple match?
Do you use TEXTJOIN() or something else? Or do you just give up after first match? Please share your lookup tricks in the comments box.
21 Responses to “How to Filter Odd or Even Rows only? [Quick Tips]”
Infact, instead of using =ISEVEN(B3), how about to use =ISEVEN(ROW())
So it takes away any chance of wrong referencing.
I like Daily Dose of Excel
I like it.
Just a heads up, you do need to have the Analysis ToolPak add-in activated to use the ISEVEN / ISODD functions. An alternative to ISEVEN would be:
=MOD(ROW(),2)=0
rather than use a formula, couldn't you enter "true" in first cell and "false" in the second and drag it down and than filter on true or false.
Just for clarification, is Ashish looking to filter by even or odd Characters or rows?
so many functions to learn!
Nice support by chandoo and team as a helpdesk. Give us more to learn and make us awesome. Always be helpful.......
In case you want to delete instead of filter,
IF your data is in Sheet1 column A
Put this in Sheet2 column A and drag down
=OFFSET(Sheet1!A$1,(ROWS($1:1)-1)*2,,)
(This is to delete even rows)
To delete odd rows :
=OFFSET(Sheet1!A$2,(ROWS($1:1)-1)*2,,)
If your numbered cells did not correspond to rows, the answer would be even simpler:
=MOD([cell address],2), then filter by 0 to see evens or 1 to see odds.
I sometimes do this using an even simpler method. I add a new column called "Sign" and put the value of 1 in the first row, say cell C2 if C1 contains the header. Then in C3 I put the formula =-1 * C2, which I copy and paste into the rest of the rows (so C4 has =-1 * C3 and so forth). Now I can just apply a filter and pick either +1 or -1 to see half the rows.
Another way, which works if I want three possibilities: in C2 I put the value 1, in C3 I put the value 2, in C4 I put the value 3, then in C5 I put the formula =C2 then I copy C5 and paste into all the remaining rows (so C6 gets =C3, C7 gets =C4, etc.). Now I can apply a filter and pick the value 1, 2, or 3 to see a third of the rows.
Extending this approach to more than 3 cases is left as an exercise for the reader.
Another way =MOD(ROW();2). In this case, must to choose betwen 1 and 0.
[...] How to Filter Even or Odd rows only [...]
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http://www.handycss.com/tips/odd-or-even-rows/
Thanks for the tip, it worked like magic, saved having to delete row by row in my database.
Thanks!
Thankssssssssssssssss
Hi Chandoo- First of all thanks for the trick. It helped me a lot. Here I have one more challenge. Having filtered the data based on odd. I want to paste data in another sheet adjacent to it. How can I do that?
For Example-
A 1 odd
B 3 odd
C 4 even
D 6 even
I have fileted the above data for odd and want to copy the "This is odd number" text in adjacent/next sheet here. How can I do that. After doing this my data should look like this
A 1 odd This is odd number
B 3 odd This is odd number
C 4 even
D 6 even
Hi! Could you please help me find a formula to filter by language?
Thank you!
Chandoo SIR,
I HAVE A DATA IN EXCEL ROWS LIKE BELOW IS THERE ANY FORMULA OR A WAY WHERE I CAN INSTRUCT I CAN MAKE CHANGES , MEANS I WANT TO WRITE ONLY , THE FIG IS FRESH, BUT IN BELOW ROW IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY TAKE THE SOME WORDS FROM FIGS AND MAKE IN PLURAL FORM , WHILE USING '' ARE'' LIKE BELOW
The fig is fresh - row 1
Figs are fresh - row 2
The Pomegranate is red - row 3
Pomegranates are red - row 4
=IF(EVEN(A1)=A1,"EVEN - do something","ODD - do something else") with iferron (for blank Cell)