Summary

If you have a list of products or services (or related options), with associated costs, you can use VLOOKUP to find and retrieve the cost for a specific option.

In the example shown, the formula in cell F6 is:

=VLOOKUP(E6,B5:C7,2,FALSE)

This formula uses the value of cell E6 to lookup and retrieve the right cost in the range B5:C7.

Generic formula

=VLOOKUP(product,table,column,FALSE)

Explanation

This is a basic example of VLOOKUP in "exact match" mode. The lookup value is B6, the table is the range B5:C7, the column is 2, and the last argument, FALSE, forces VLOOKUP to do an exact match. (Read why this is necessary here).

If VLOOKUP finds a matching value, the associated cost will be retrieved from the 2nd column (column C). If no match is found, VLOOKUP will return the #N/A error.

Video: How to use VLOOKUP (3 min, free). It's one of 117 lessons in our Core Formula course.

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Dave Bruns

Hi - I'm Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.

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