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Vlookup Left

This document explains how to perform a left lookup in Excel using a VLOOKUP formula combined with the CHOOSE function. It shows that CHOOSE can switch the positions of columns, tricking VLOOKUP into thinking the lookup column is to the left of the return column. The example formula looks up a date in column K and returns the corresponding value from column E, by switching the order of the columns passed to VLOOKUP using CHOOSE.

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anubhavpradhan
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133 views2 pages

Vlookup Left

This document explains how to perform a left lookup in Excel using a VLOOKUP formula combined with the CHOOSE function. It shows that CHOOSE can switch the positions of columns, tricking VLOOKUP into thinking the lookup column is to the left of the return column. The example formula looks up a date in column K and returns the corresponding value from column E, by switching the order of the columns passed to VLOOKUP using CHOOSE.

Uploaded by

anubhavpradhan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A little while ago I showed you how to do a lookup to the left using the INDEX and

MATCH functions.
In this Excel tutorial Im going to show you how you can do a lookup to the left with a
VLOOKUP formula together with the CHOOSE function as an alternative.
First of all lets look at our data:

In this example we want to look up the Volume in column E for the date 29/01/2011 in
column K. As we know, a VLOOKUP cannot go left, but with the help of the CHOOSE
function we can trick it into going left.
First of all lets understand how the CHOOSE function works:
This is the syntax in Excel:
=CHOOSE(index_num, value1, value2, value3..up to 254 values)
The syntax is not very useful as usual! To translate it into English:
=CHOOSE(value number 3 where, value 1 = A, value 2 = B, value 3 = C)
The result is C
Now we can get creative by specifying more than one index number with the help of
curly brackets { }, and instead of specifying the values (like we did above with A, B and
C) we can refer to a range of cells like this:
=CHOOSE({1,2},$K$2:$K$207,$E$2:$E$207)
In English this formula reads: = ({column 1 is K , and column 2 is E)
Effectively switching the positions of column E and K so that the VLOOKUP will think
column K is to the left of column E. Clever, huh?
Now, on its own, like the example above, CHOOSE is not much use but when you use it
in a VLOOKUP it enables us to trick Excel into returning the value to the left of our
lookup column.
Our formula to look up date 29
th
January 2011 in column K and return the value in
column E (column number 2) is:
=VLOOKUP(DATE(2011,1,29),CHOOSE({1,2},$K$2:$K$207,$E$2:$E$207),2,0)
Translated:
=VLOOKUP(find 29/01/2011 in column K and return the value in column E)
Result 7,222,425
NOTE: when you want to reference a date in a formula you need to tell Excel it is a
date using the DATE function, alternatively you can use the dates serial value.
However, I find the DATE function more intuitive and easier to follow when I revisit a
formula later on. Alternatively you could reference another cell that contains the date in
the correct date format.
TIP: We can make this formula a little easier to use by changing the cell range
references to full column references. This will work in this instance because there is no
other data in our columns other than that which is in our table.
With full column references our formula looks like this:
=VLOOKUP(DATE(2011,1,29),CHOOSE({1,2},K:K,E:E),2,0)
Download the workbook and play around with the formula to test your understanding.

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