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VLOOKUP is a function in Power BI that allows users to search for a specific value in a table or dataset and return a corresponding value from a different column. This can be useful for finding related data or performing lookups based on specific criteria. To use VLOOKUP in Power BI, first, the user needs to select the dataset or table they want to search within. Then, they can insert the VLOOKUP function and specify the lookup value and the column from which they want to retrieve the corresponding value. For example, if a user wants to find the sales amount for a specific product, they can use VLOOKUP to search for the product name in the dataset and return the corresponding sales amount.
You can use the VLOOKUP function in Excel to look up a specific value from one table in another table and return a corresponding value in another table.
To replicate this functionality in Power BI, you can use the LOOKUPVALUE function with the following syntax:
Points = LOOKUPVALUE('data2'[Points], 'data2'[Team], 'data1'[Team])
This particular example create a new column named points that looks up the value from the Team column in data1 within the Team column in data2 and returns the corresponding value from the Points column in data2.
The following example shows how to use this syntax in practice.
Example: How to Use VLOOKUP in Power BI
Suppose we have the following table named data1 that contains information about the Team and Position for various basketball players:
And suppose we have another table named data2 that contains information about the Team and Points for the same basketball players:
Suppose that we would like to look up the values from the Team column in data1 within the Team column in data2 and returns the corresponding value from the Points column in data2.
To do so, make sure the data1 table is active, then click the Table tools tab along the top ribbon, then click the New column icon.
Then type in the following formula into the formula bar:
Points = LOOKUPVALUE('data2'[Points], 'data2'[Team], 'data1'[Team])
This will create a new column named Points that contains the points values from the data2 table that correspond to each team in the data1 table.
Note: You can find the complete documentation for the LOOKUPVALUE function in DAX .
Additional Resources
The following tutorials explain how to perform other common tasks in Power BI: