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MATCH

Description

Returns the relative position of an item in a range that matches a specified value.

Syntax

MATCH(search_key, range, search_type)

  • search_key - The item that the formula searches on within the specified range of cells. It can be a pure text (‘Evan‘), or a cell reference (like A7), or even a function that returns a string or a number (like LEFT(“Mike Johnson”,8) or DATE(2017,1,1))

  • range - The one-dimensional array to be searched.
    search_type - [ OPTIONAL, may be 1, 0, or -1, set to - 1 by default ] - Defines the manner in which thr search is performed.

    • 1 - the default, causes MATCH to assume that the range is sorted in ascending order and return the largest value less than or equal to search_key.
    • 0 - indicates exact match, and is required in situations where range is not sorted.
      -1 - causes MATCH to assume that the range is sorted in descending order and return the smallest value greater than or equal to search_key.


Note: If a range with both height and width greater than 1 is used, MATCH will return #N/A!.

Sample Usage

MATCH("Sunday",A2:A9,0)

MATCH(DATE(2012,1,1),A2:F2)

How to use MATCH

In order to use the MATCH formula, start with your edited Excellentable:

Then type in the MATCH Formula in the area you would like to display the outcome:

By adding the values you would like to calculate the MATCH formula for, Excellentable will generate the outcome:

A
B
C
D
1
State
Population
Total area in mi2
Land area in mi2
Water area in mi2
House seat(s)
2
Alabama
4833722
52,420 (135,767)
50,645 (131,170)
3
Alaska
735132
665,384 (1,723,337)
570,641 (1,477,950)
4
Arizona
6626624
113,990 (295,233)
113,594 (294,207)
5
Arkansas
2959373
53,179 (137,733)
52,035 (134,770)
6
California
38332521
163,695 (423,968)
155,779 (403,466)
7
Colorado
5268367
104,094 (269,602)
103,642 (268,432)
8
Connecticut
3596080
5,543 (14,356)
4,842 (12,541)
9
Delaware
925749
2,489 (6,446)
1,949 (5,048)
10
Florida
19552860
65,758 (170,312)
53,625 (138,888)
11
Georgia
9992167
59,425 (153,910)
57,513 (148,958)
12
Hawaii
1404054
10,932 (28,314)
6,423 (16,635)
13
Idaho
1612136
83,569 (216,443)
82,643 (214,044)
14
15
E
F
1
2
1,775 (4,597)
7
3
94,743 (245,383)
1
4
396 (1,026)
9
5
1,143 (2,960)
4
6
7,916 (20,502)
53
7
452 (1,171)
7
8
701 (1,816)
5
9
540 (1,399)
1
10
12,133 (31,424)
27
11
1,912 (4,950)
14
12
4,509 (11,678)
2
13
926 (2,398)
2
14
15
10

Notes

The MATCH formula does not return the value iteself, rather it returns the position in an array or range of a matched value. To return the value itself or another value corresponding to the row or column the match is found in, use the INDEXHLOOKUP, or VLOOKUP formulas instead.

See Also

VLOOKUP: Vertical lookup. Searches down the first column of a range for a key and returns the value of a specified cell in the row found.

HLOOKUP: Horizontal lookup. Searches across the first row of a range for a key and returns the value of a specified cell in the column found.

INDEX: Returns the content of a cell, specified by row and column offset.

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