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VLOOKUP is a useful tool in Excel that allows you to search for a specific value in one column, and return the corresponding value from another column in the same row. To return all matches from a VLOOKUP, you can use the MATCH and INDEX functions together. This combination will allow you to create an array of all matches in the specified column and then return those values in the desired column. This can be done by setting the MATCH function to look for an exact match, and the INDEX function to return all values in an array.
By default, the VLOOKUP function in Excel looks up some value in a range and returns a corresponding value only for the first match.
However, you can use the following syntax to look up some value in a range and return corresponding values for all matches:
=FILTER(C2:C11, E2=A2:A11)
This particular formula looks in the range C2:C11 and returns the corresponding values in the range A2:A11 for all rows where the value in C2:C11 is equal to E2.
The following example shows how to use this syntax in practice.
Example: Use VLOOKUP to Return All Matches
Suppose we have the following dataset in Excel that shows information about various basketball teams:
Suppose we use the following formula with VLOOKUP to look up the team “Rockets” in column A and return the corresponding points value in column C:
=VLOOKUP(E2, A2:C11, 3)
The following screenshot shows how to use this formula in practice:
The VLOOKUP function returns the value in the “Points” column for the first occurrence of Rockets in the “Team” column, but it fails to return the points values for the other two rows that also contain Rockets in the “Team” column.
To return the points values for all rows that contain Rockets in the “Team” column, we can use the FILTER function instead.
Here’s the exact formula we can use:
=FILTER(C2:C11, E2=A2:A11)
The following screenshot shows how to use this formula in practice:
Notice that the FILTER function returns all three points values for the three rows where the “Team” column contains Rockets.
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