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Great explanation. &nbsp;Thanks!
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Windows XP SP3, Excel 2K SP3, Excel newbie.<br />
<br />
Please see the attached Excel file for a problem I am having with VLOOKUP.<br />
<br />
Maybe I'm not understanding VLOOKUP properly: &nbsp;Look at Sheet1! cell B3. &nbsp;It contains a VLOOKUP formula.<br />
<br />
Since the value of A3 does not occur in the lookup table, I was expecting (and hoping) that B3 would return &quot;FALSE&quot; or &quot;N/A&quot; or leave the cell blank. &nbsp;Instead, it returns &quot;2&quot;. &nbsp;Why?<br />
<a href="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2011/12_w52/532940/Example1220.xls" target="_blank" class="file-inline" title="Example1220.xls (13 KB)"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path d="M67.508 468.467c-58.005-58.013-58.016-151.92 0-209.943l225.011-225.04c44.643-44.645 117.279-44.645 161.92 0 44.743 44.749 44.753 117.186 0 161.944l-189.465 189.49c-31.41 31.413-82.518 31.412-113.926.001-31.479-31.482-31.49-82.453 0-113.944L311.51 110.491c4.687-4.687 12.286-4.687 16.972 0l16.967 16.971c4.685 4.686 4.685 12.283 0 16.969L184.983 304.917c-12.724 12.724-12.73 33.328 0 46.058 12.696 12.697 33.356 12.699 46.054-.001l189.465-189.489c25.987-25.989 25.994-68.06.001-94.056-25.931-25.934-68.119-25.932-94.049 0l-225.01 225.039c-39.249 39.252-39.258 102.795-.001 142.057 39.285 39.29 102.885 39.287 142.162-.028A739446.174 739446.174 0 0 1 439.497 238.49c4.686-4.687 12.282-4.684 16.969.004l16.967 16.971c4.685 4.686 4.689 12.279.004 16.965a755654.128 755654.128 0 0 0-195.881 195.996c-58.034 58.092-152.004 58.093-210.048.041z"/></svg>Example1220.xls</a>
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Example1220.xls

Windows XP SP3, Excel 2K SP3, Excel newbie.

Please see the attached Excel file for a problem I am having with VLOOKUP.

Maybe I'm not understanding VLOOKUP properly:  Look at Sheet1! cell B3.  It contains a VLOOKUP formula.

Since the value of A3 does not occur in the lookup table, I was expecting (and hoping) that B3 would return "FALSE" or "N/A" or leave the cell blank.  Instead, it returns "2".  Why?

vlookup problem

Microsoft Excel topics include formulas, formatting, VBA macros and user-defined functions, and everything else related to the spreadsheet user interface, including error messages.

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office is an integrated suite of applications that includes Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Visio and InfoPath, along with a number of tools to assist in making the individual components work together. Coding within and between the projects is done in Visual Basic for Applications, known as VBA.

Microsoft Office

A spreadsheet is an interactive computer application program for organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets developed as computerized simulations of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data represented as cells of an array, organized in rows and columns. Each cell of the array may contain either numeric or text data, or the results of formulas that automatically calculate and display a value based on the contents of other cells.