excel compare to columns

Please send the sample i/p and o/p?

assuming that the 2 columns are column A and column B, easiest way would be to sort both columns (one at a time) and to type the following formula in cell C1 :

=IF(A1<>B1, "difference", "")

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you can then multiply the formula by dragging it downwards and apply a filter to hide all empty cells in the C column

pay attention though that this approach will only give you the answers you need if entries in the rows are related to each other. When both columns are identical but one cell is missing, you will get a lot of differences !

if you could post an example sheet, we could come up with an answer suitable to your situation.

Hi,

Sorting is really not an option because there are about 3000 plus records and example data

1974635      3438418
3438418      3592898
3592898      7138356
7138356      7310161
7141481      7771217
7310161      1974635

on this data there is only 1 records that match both coloums I need to find all the differences

Thanks,

R8VI

Hello R8VI,
Take a look at the example workbook.

It uses the following formula

=IF(ISERROR(MATCH(D5,MyRange,0)),"No Match",ROW(OFFSET(MyRange,0,0,1,1))+MATCH(D5,MyRange,0)-1)

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The range MyRange is the shorter list.  The formula will return "No Match" is the item is not found in both lists.  Otherwise it will return the row number of the first match in the second list.

Kyle
Q-27379213-RevA.xlsx

So for given example you would like to get all records on the left except for the 3438418 entry ?

then use kgerb's function and filter all entries to show only those containing "No Match"

Hi kgerb's

I have tried your example but still i dont think its right this is how I have changed it to


=IF(ISERROR(MATCH(C2,B2:B3908,0)),"No Match",ROW(OFFSET(B2:B3908,0,0,1,1))+MATCH(C2,B2:B3908,0)-1)

but I am getting more than 1000 records that dont match

when the big list has 3908 records and small list has 3642 records so there should only be about 260 odd that dont match or not there

and need to identfiy which row or which ones they are

Thanks,

R8VI

Hi,

I looked at the first record in C  and it says no match
the record is 345444 I did a control find in B and its the 6 one down

Please help

Thanks,

R8VI

I think the problem might be that you need to reference your short list absolutely.  Change B2:B3908 to $B$2:$B$3908.  If that doesn't work I'll need to see some data.  It's hard to know why the match function is not working correctly without seeing the actual data.  Can you paste the two columns of data into a new workbook and upload it?  

Also, my formula returns the row of the first match found in the short list.  Is that not what you want?  I attached a new workbook with the data you provided.

Kyle
Q-27379213-RevB.xlsx

Hi Kyle,

I am not sure if this is what your solution does.

But what I want it that take everything from A and match To B and bring back row number or records that do not appear in B which is the smaller one

Thanks,

R8VI