You can use wildcards with the XLOOKUP() function in Excel to find matches even when you don’t know the exact value you’re looking for
The XLOOKUP() function in Excel lets you search for an exact match on an entire column or row of data, but what if you don’t know the exact value you’re looking for? Using wildcards, you can easily find matches even when you don’t know the exact value that you’re looking for. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to use wildcards with the XLOOKUP() function in Excel so that you can find matches when your search value includes letters, numbers, and more!
What Is The XLOOKUP() Function?
The XLOOKUP() function is a built-in function in Excel that allows you to look up a value in a table and return a corresponding value from the same row. You can use wildcards with the XLOOKUP() function to find matches even when you don’t know the exact value you’re looking for. In this blog post, we’ll discuss how to do this by using the asterisk (*) as your wildcard. If you want to search for all values of A followed by any other character, just enter A* and it will give you all rows where A precedes any letter or number.
Finding Matches When Only A Part Of A Value Exists In Another List
If you have a list of values and you want to find matches in another list, but you don’t know the exact values you’re looking for, you can use wildcards. Wildcards are symbols that can represent any character or group of characters. They include asterisks (*), question marks (?), brackets (), and braces ({ }). These symbols replace text in the lookup column so you don’t need to know exactly what it is. When using these symbols, make sure that they line up on both sides of your lookup column. For example, if your lookup column is *C* then all other columns must be *C*.
Finding Matches Without An Exact Match
If you’re using the XLOOKUP() function in Excel and you want to find a match even if you don’t have an exact match, you can use wildcards. Wildcards are symbols that can stand in for unknown characters in a text string. The two most common wildcards are the asterisk (*) and the question mark (?). They represent any character or any number of characters respectively. Here’s how they work:
XLOOKUP(*, A2:A11, B2:B11) = 3 because it found abcdefg in cell B3. XLOOKUP(?, A2:A11, B2:B11) = 10 because it found all values starting with the letter b in cells B2 through B10.
What Are Wildcards?
Wildcards are special characters that can be used in place of unknown or unspecific characters in a search. In Excel, there are two wildcard characters: the question mark (?) and the asterisk (*). The question mark represents any single character, while the asterisk represents any sequence of characters.
Why Use Wildcards In Excel?
If you’ve ever tried to find a specific piece of data in a large spreadsheet, you know how frustrating it can be when you can’t quite remember what that data is called. This is where wildcards come in handy. Wildcards are symbols that can stand in for unknown characters in a text string. This means that you can search for partial text matches, which can be a big time-saver.
Understanding Exact Lookup vs Partial Lookup and Why You May Need Both
If you’ve ever used the VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP functions in Excel, then you know that they can be useful for finding specific values in your data. But what if you don’t know the exact value you’re looking for? That’s where wildcards come in. Wildcards are a way of specifying a range of characters that might appear in a cell. For example, an asterisk (*) represents any character at all while a question mark (?) represents any single character. When you specify one of these symbols as part of the lookup value argument, it tells Excel to search through every column and return any row where the text is found anywhere within that column.
Examples of Using The Excel XlLookup Function With Wildcard Characters
If you want to find a specific value in a range of cells, you can use the XLOOKUP() function. This function allows you to use wildcard characters, which means you don’t have to know the exact value you’re looking for. You can also use OR statements to match partial values. For example, if you’re looking for anything that begins with north but don’t know exactly what it is called, type north* in your search and see what comes up!
If your list is alphabetized and contains both John and Doe, you could enter either J* or D*. You’ll find two different results.
