Comments on: How to compare two columns in Excel for matches and differences

The tutorial demonstrates a number of techniques to compare and match two or more columns in Excel with formulas, conditional formatting and the specialized wizard. Continue reading →

Comments page 13. Total comments: 551

  1. Hi,

    Below is a sample of the data I have. I want to match the data in Column A and B. If column B is not matching column A, I want to add a row and copy the data from Column A to B. For example, "4" is missing in column B, so I want to add a space and add "4" to column B so it will match column A. I have a large set of data, so I am trying to find a different way instead of checking for duplicate values in the two columns and manually adding one row at a time. Thanks!

    A B C D

    3 3 Y B
    4 5 G B
    5 6 B G
    6 8 P G
    7 9 Y P
    8 11 G Y
    9 12 B Y
    10
    11
    12
    11
    12

  2. How to Salve This Prablem

    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    PS IN_Pan Shop PSA Paan Store
    PS IN_Pan Shop PSA Paan Store
    KS IN_Kirana Stores CSA Kirana Store New
    CS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    KS IN_Kirana Stores KSN Kirana Store New
    PS IN_Pan Shop KSN Paan Store
    CS IN_Cosmetic Store CSA Cosmetic Store

  3. Hi Meli,

    As i can see it's time sheet of employee. I understand your query. But without sample sheet i am unable to put formula here. so share any short sample sheet fot add formula.

    1. In Time Out Time In Time Out Time
      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 10:50:00 AM 8:40:00 PM = PRESENT

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM - - = Single Punch (This should be absent) Absent

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:30:00 AM 8:35:00 PM = LATE

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:00:00 AM 7:00:00 PM = EARLY

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:30:00 AM 5:35:00 PM = LATE/EARLY

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 8:45:00 PM - = Single Punch Absent (This should be SP)

      11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM - - = Single Punch Absent

  4. Hi, I need help with a formula.

    The Formula for blank cell was very helpful Thanks.

    I have two formula with is correct answer, i combined the formula but there is error.

    Formula 1 -
    IF(OR(C3="",D3=""),"Single Punch",IF(AND(C3>A3,D3>=B3),"LATE",IF(AND(C3>A3,D3<B3),"LATE/EARLY",IF(AND(C3<=A3,D3<B3),"EARLY","PRESENT"))))

    Formula 2 -
    IF(AND(IF(AND(NOT(ISBLANK(C3)),NOT(ISBLANK(D3))), C3=D3, TRUE), IF(AND(NOT(ISBLANK(C3)),NOT(ISBLANK(D3))), C3=D3, TRUE), IF(AND(NOT(ISBLANK(D3)),NOT(ISBLANK(C3))), D3=C3, TRUE)), "Absent", "-")

    Would you Please help me find solution.

    Actual Time Log Time Remarks
    In Time Out Time In Time Out Time
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 10:50:00 AM 8:40:00 PM PRESENT -
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM Single Punch (This should be absent) Absent
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:30:00 AM 8:35:00 PM LATE -
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:00:00 AM 7:00:00 PM EARLY -
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 11:30:00 AM 5:35:00 PM LATE/EARLY -
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM 8:45:00 PM Single Punch Absent (This should be SP)
    11:00:00 AM 8:30:00 PM Single Punch Absent

    Please help

  5. Your page is excellent; your team is very helpful. I'm struggling with an issue. I have one sheet where I would like to highlight only the rows where values duplicated in the first column where the there are differing values in the second column. Duplicates are allowed in the first column. Duplicate values are allowed in the second column, also. However, duplicated values in the first column should always be paired with the same value in the second column. If not, then highlight all rows where first column contains the same duplicated value.

    Thank you.

    Col-A Col-B Format
    1 C Highlight Row
    1 C Highlight Row
    1 D Highlight Row
    2 A No Highlight
    2 A No Highlight
    3 E No Highlight
    4 C No Highlight
    5 A Highlight Row
    5 F Highlight Row

  6. The spread sheet contain two column. In first column there is only the level i.e., Block, GP and Village and in another there is name contain of the respective Block, GP and Village. Let me know how I can manage the sheet that looks like in this manner as follows

    Block GP Village
    Block Name GP Name Village Name
    (if there is 10 village then it is shown in row wise)
    GP Name Village Name

  7. Not understand the question dear.

    1. Scenario1 :

      Check text "abc.AD" in sheet one, and return the next two cell values in sheet two.
      Note: The unique text is not in same column.

      Sheet 1 :
      Col10 Col11 Col13 Col14 col15 abc.AD Test NOP
      abc.AD Ext NOP
      abc.AD Int NOP
      Let me know if this helps

  8. Hello There, i am kind of stuck with manipulating the excel worksheets.

    Scenario : Compare the cell text in two excel and replace range of value in sheet two with Values in Sheet one. Any guess how can we achieve this ?

    Scenario : Wanted to Pull the Values from Sheet one With all the Cells containing abc*(text)in sheet 1 and Copy the same Text and adjacent 3 Values from each row.

    Sheet 1 :

    row/col Col1 col2 col3 col4
    row1 123 abcde ghk 143

    Sheet 2 :

    row /col Col1 col2 col3 col4 col5
    row1 abcde ghk c143

  9. Hello There, i am kind of stuck with manipulating the excel worksheets.

    Scenario : Compare the cell text in two excel and replace range of value in sheet two with Values in Sheet one. Any guess how can we achieve this ?

    Scenario : Wanted to Pull the Values from Sheet one With all the Cells containing abc*(text)in sheet 1 and Copy the same Text and adjacent 3 Values from each row.

    Sheet 1 :

    row/col Col1 col2 col3 col4
    row1 123 abcde ghk 143

    Sheet 2 :

    row /col Col1

  10. Hi All,

    Is it possible to compare my example below ? i need to compare column a + b in column c + d . my problem is on column a there is same values . please help me to create formulas if possible

    column a column b column c column d
    64571 75 64351 72.1
    64351 72.1 64571 75
    64571 73 64571 73

  11. I'm trying to pull information from one spreadsheet into another, where the combination of two cells of data in each spreadsheet match exactly.
    Each spreadsheet contains two columns that contain the exact same data:
    Spd 1 - Column D> Work Order
    Spd 1 - Column M> Contract Unit Name

    Spd 2 - Column I> Work Order
    Spd 2 - Column Q> Contract Unit Name

    Spd 2 - Col VInvoiced Amt

    So where Spd 1, Col D and Col M = Spd Col I and Col Q, Import the value in Col V into Spd 1 Col O (Invoiced Amt)

    Data sample:
    Spd 1:
    Work Order Contract Unit Name
    E.724292.C.03 NRE-ROW AGENT BEA
    E.724292.C.03 NRE-ROW AGENT I
    E.731518.C.17 NRE-EXISTING RIGHTS LEVEL I
    E.731518.C.17 NRE-EXISTING RIGHTS LEVEL II
    E.732518.C.17 NRE-PROJECT COORDINATOR
    E.732518.C.17 NRE-TITLE SEARCH I

    Spd 2:
    Work Order Contract Unit Name Invoiced Amt.
    E.724292.C.03 NRE-ROW AGENT BEA 100.00
    E.724292.C.03 NRE-ROW AGENT I 75.00
    E.731518.C.17 NRE-EXISTING RIGHTS LEVEL I 125.00
    E.731518.C.17 NRE-EXISTING RIGHTS LEVEL II 175.00
    E.732518.C.17 NRE-PROJECT COORDINATOR 95.00
    E.732518.C.17 NRE-TITLE SEARCH I 200.00

    Do I use MATCH and INDEX and what would my formula look like?

  12. Thanks so much for this TA; this just saved me a LOT of time!

  13. Need help,
    I'd like to be able to compare two cells with unique strings
    Ex. A1 = xyz0_ok_hmu1-ty
    B1 = ok1_ty
    I want it to be able to recognize that it is similar to a minimum of 2 ordered letter matches and be highlighted as "similar". If it is able to ignore multiple delimiters, that would be cool too.

    2. btw, the strings are a bunch of acronyms that doesn't make sense, and people have their own way of writing it therefore there are a lot of differences and minimal similarities.

  14. I have a spreadsheet with over 100000 service name entries, however the service name can be named slightly different on several rows. I want to know if there is a formula which can highlight any mis matches in column B And C. For example the service is APERTURE but I can be known as APERTURE-CONT or APERTURE-UAT, however the owners name is different. I don't fancy going through all 10000 lines so was hoping there may be a formula that can highlight this
    SERVICE Owner First Name Owner Last Name
    APERTURE JOE BLOGGS
    APERTURE-CONT JOE BLOGGS
    APERTURE-UAT DERREN YOUNG

  15. Hello,

    I need assistance with this. I want to compare values of 2 columns. I want a visual marker that will highlight (or mark as a duplicate) as long as any value of one column is contained in the other column.

  16. Hello,

    I need help on this issue. I want to compare values of 2 columns. I want a visual marker that will highlight (or mark as a duplicate) as long as any value of one column is contained in the other column.

  17. Hello.
    I need help on this issue. I wan to compare values of 2 columns. These values, even though they same, are not necessarily arranged in same order or may not even be of same string, eg.

    Jason Paul Macaulay Macaulay Paul
    J P Macaulay Jason Paul Macaulay
    Macaulay Jason Jason Paul Macaulay
    Macaulay Paul J P Macaulay

  18. Hello, I have been trying pull some matching data with little luck. I have 2 data sets 1 with demographic information and one with home sales information. Both have addresses I have broken down by: home number, direction,street name. These data sets are on 2 different sheets. How do I find matching: home number, direction, street name on each sheet? Hopefully that makes sense.

  19. Hi,

    Hopefully someone can understand what I am trying to do here.

    I am currently going through some spreadsheet files and I would like to find case based non-duplicates e.g.

    Column A Column B
    Row 1 Harry Potter Ron Weasley
    Row 2 harry potter Ron Weasley

    Basically I am looking for true non-duplicates where the case of the text is concerned, the above example using the method I am currently using (Conditional formatting and Highlight duplicate values) will mark the above A1&A2 example as a duplicate even though the case being different, I would like a solution to mark the A1&A2 entry as a non duplicate by any visual method to differentiate from an actual true duplicate entry e.g. B1&B2, note I do not want to manipulate the data to become true duplicates just want to highlight the case differences.I'm cross examining two Rows with about 40-50 Columns, in a multitude of files.

    Is what I am trying to achieve possible?

    Any and all help will be appreciated.

    Kind Regards
    Jack

  20. any feedback

  21. Hi
    I need to make filter for unique value that created by multi user once per month per user than we need to calculate the QTY of the unique number per user

    Example for my Question:

    transaction_date Value User_NAME
    --------------------------------------------------
    1/1/2017 1222889205 MarK
    --------------------------------------------------
    2/1/2017 1222889205 Mac
    --------------------------------------------------
    4/1/2017 1254879863 Eva
    --------------------------------------------------
    21/2/2017 1225478962 Jake
    --------------------------------------------------
    4/5/2017 1254879863 Eva
    --------------------------------------------------
    5/5/2017 1254879863 Eva
    --------------------------------------------------
    1/6/2017 1254793658 Mac
    --------------------------------------------------
    1/6/2017 1254793658 Jake
    --------------------------------------------------
    6/6/2017 1254793658 Eva
    --------------------------------------------------

    **my Solution

    Month user Count for uniqe value
    --------------------------------------------------
    jan MarK 1
    Mac 1
    Eva 1
    -----------------------------------------------
    Feb JaKe 1
    ---------------------------------------------
    May Eva 1
    ----------------------------------------------
    Jun Mac 1
    JaKe 1
    Eva 1
    ---------------------------------------------

    Appreciate your support thanks

  22. I am facing an issue of 10,000 row items contains data for visits.

    data contains same name but different start date and end date

    Shop Name Opening End
    CRUSH TRUCKING STATION 12-May-11 22-Dec-14
    SUPERIOR II FILLING STATION 11-Dec-13 14-Mar-14
    INDUS FILLING STATION 13-Dec-13 21-Feb-14
    INDUS FILLING STATION 21-Feb-14 17-Oct-14
    SUPERIOR II FILLING STATION 14-Mar-14 23-Oct-14
    INDUS FILLING STATION 17-Oct-14 25-Jan-15
    SUPERIOR II FILLING STATION 23-Oct-14 16-Jan-15
    SUPERIOR II FILLING STATION 16-Jan-15 08-May-15

    Is there any solution for above to adjust columns in start and end date in same shop name

  23. I need some help.
    I am using vlookup to draw information from sheets A and B and then compare them side by side on Sheet C. The values happen to be in time format. I need to have a formula (or a quick system) to highlight the the cells so that I can quickly spot the different in the times and then correct them. The spreadsheet that I am using is already full of useful conditional formatting and so would really like it to just appear a different colour so that it gets my attention.

    Any suggestions much appreciated

  24. Hi, I need to copy data from one cell to another on daily basis
    Example,
    A1 : =TODAY() //Changes Daily
    B1 : =SUM(B2:B10) //Changes Daily

    I need the B1 value to be copied on C1
    Next day B1 value to be copied on C2
    Next day B1 value to be copied on C3 and so on...

    Waiting for your support
    Thanks in advance

  25. HELP!

    Would you please help me?

    It is really important.

    What i want to do is this

    compare columns for any two or more cells with the same values within the same row and hightlight individual rows after matching

    I have 20 different columns that i need to compare for any two or more duplicate cells among them

    How can i do that with the simplest way?

    Thank you

  26. Hi,
    I have an sheet with columns from January to December where people make contributions on monthly basis. A person's contribution is the same through out the year.

    I would want a formula that shows if someone is contributing the same figure throughout the year or not, kind of like "True" and "False" formula but it should be checking in all the columns thus January-December and not just two columns whose formula I know is =A2=B2

    Thanks.

  27. not working the below formula in excel 2016, please guide if any changes on this?

    =IF(COUNTIFS($CU2:$CU59862,CU2, $CA2:$CA59862,CA2, $FL2:$FL59862,FL2, $DA2:$DA59862,DA2, $DV2:$DV59862,DV2) >1, "DUPLICATE ROW","")

  28. Excellent resource. I have two worksheets. one with 25,000 rows and the other with 63,000 rows and i want to find out the complete match of sheet2 to sheet 1, the ones without any match and others with at least 90% match. please how do i go about this. thank you

  29. Hello I have 10 values in Col A and 3 values in Col B. I want to highlight only values that match col A with Col B and mark others in a diff color . How do i do it?

    Col A Col B
    1 1
    2 6
    3 9
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Col A Col B
    1 1 Match
    2 No match
    3 No match
    4 No match
    5 No match
    6 6 match
    7 No match
    8 No match
    9 9 match
    10 No match

  30. Hi, kindly help me derive a proper formula for this problem. I am using two sheets Sheet 1 & Sheet 2 in excel 2013. I created a drop down value (1-15 & 1-15) in the first sheet using data validation to derive two numbers in two different cells. In the second sheet I have created variables (with 1-15 in one cell and 1-15 in another cell) to derive a result in the third column). Say, in the first sheet I have one column no. of factories (1-15) & No of Managers (1-15). In the second sheet I have created the variable; No. of Factories, No of Manager & in the third row their Operating hours:

    No of Factories: 1/2/3/4/5/....
    No of Managers: 1/2/3/4/5/....
    No of Operating hours: 8 (in case 1,1), 15 (1, 2), etc.

    Now in the first sheet I want to use the drop down values to enter what i want to know and get the result using a formula.

    Kindly help me with this.

  31. how to Compare table columns in excel
    for example
    Table -1
    Col A; Col B; Col C;
    Roll No. Std. Name Result 1 semester (total Marks)
    1 A 50
    2 B 40
    3 C 55

    Table -2
    Col A; Col B; Col C;
    Roll No. Std. Name Result 2 semester (total Marks)
    2 B 45
    4 D 60
    1 A 60
    3 C 50

    I Want to Result like that

    Table -1 Table-2
    Col A; Col B; Col C; Col D; Col E; Col F;
    Roll No. Std. Name Result S-1 Roll No. Std. Name Result S-2
    1 A 50 1 A 60
    2 B 40 2 B 45
    3 C 55 3 C 50
    4 D 60

    Could you described please how i could solve this as Table 2 match with table 1 and sort and place the record on same row
    thanks

  32. i want add the data with different uniqe item below following table
    item data
    1 4
    2 3
    1 2
    3 2
    2 3
    1 1

  33. Good day
    I`m a marine engineer.I am just creating a worksheet where if a parameter in column F is greater than a parameter in columnn I by 0.03(P4>Pd>0.03),A separate column say H has to highlight each row as Abnormal with cell bgrnd as red.Would you please help me on this
    Thanks in advance
    Allan

  34. I need help writing a formula to find matches between a column in SHEET1 and a column in SHEET2. Goal is to get "Match" inserted into Column B, SHEET1 if there is a match between Column A and Column B.

    I tried:

    =IF(A2=$SHEET2$,B2,"Match","") but this didn't work. Can someone help me out please!

    Data:

    Column A, SHEET1
    12AB1250
    12AB1251
    12AB1252

    Column A, SHEET2
    12AB1250
    12AB1251
    12AB1252
    12AB1253
    12AB1254
    12AB1255

    Thanks in advance!

    1. =IF(A2=A3,"Match","No match"

      Copy and paste above formula and A1 delete and select Column A, SHEET1 and A3 delete and select Column A, SHEET2 . it will work

  35. As a step in a bank reconciliation, I am comparing two list of $amt. I do have a unique identifier in one list but not the other, just $ values.
    I want to compare the $values and find a "unique" match. Meaning, say I have $155 twice in list 1, three times in list 2.
    Is there a way to id the match 2?
    With a unique identifier in both list, two column match with condition formatting would work fine.
    It a large volume of data, please help!

  36. Need a formula based on below criteria:
    I have two cells, A and B,
    if the difference btw A & B is less than 6 or equal to 6, "No Change"
    if greater than 6 and less than 9, "Slight Change"
    if greater than 10 "Significant Change"

    Also the formula should override the difference with positive numbers, even the B is larger than A, vice-versa

    Please help!!

  37. I would like to know how to compare a range "A1" of file names with a directory and return the date the file was last save to a each matching cell in range "B1"

  38. Excellent website, thanks.

  39. Is it possible to compare for certain values two different sheets of same Ms Excel file?

  40. Hello good evening,

    I need small help. So I need to get how many same numbers repeats in Column A that matches same value in column B. Example How many times 38692 repeats in column A and has value of $5 in column B? Can anyone help me with that please
    A B
    38770 $10.00
    38692 $5.00
    38692 $5.00
    38692 $5.00
    38692 $10.00
    38769 $10.00
    38692 $5.00
    38692 $5.00
    38692 $10.00
    $0.00
    $0.00
    38694 $10.00
    $0.00
    38694 $10.00
    $0.00

  41. I need a formula to count how many times a specific range of numbers occurs twice in a row.

    Example: how many times a number between 1 and 9 occurs at the same time in column C and D

    1, 7, 9, 14, 20, 27
    1, 3, 4, 5, 14, 21,
    2, 3, 4, 17, 22, 23
    4, 5, 7, 8, 20, 24
    16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22

    The answer is 2 times

    I thought I could use:
    =COUNTIF(C1:C379,"<=9") + COUNTIF(D1:D379,<=9")

    But it is adding the number of times the range occurs in column c to the number of times the range occurs in column D. What I need is the number of times the range occurs in column C and D within the same row, or in other words, at the same time.

    Thanks!

  42. Very helpful. Thanks so much!

  43. how to convert excel data to note pad text transpose (T). and need to add some ad some special character with the text

  44. Hello,
    I am trying to do a comparison between 2 columns for values only. In one column, the value is 13 while the other I am comparing it to is 13.0. None of the methods I have tried return a match.
    Is there a way to compare for a match in value of the two without having to reformatting the columns to match?
    Thank you in advance for any help that can be provided.

  45. Thanx. it helped me.

  46. I have some items and rates in one table, other table I need to type item name and get relevant rate to next column in same row Table1 Table2 Item. Rate. Item. Rate. A. 3. D. ? B. 4. A. ? C. 6. B. ? D. 4. E. 1. .... Z. 4.

  47. Hi ,

    How to compare two cells whether another cell contains same word,

    Location Code Description Location from part no Status
    LEAF SPRING FRONT REAR AXLE PARABOLIC SPRING FALSE

    Thanks

    1. Hello E Sivakumar,

      Please, you can use the following formula:
      =IF(A1=B1,"match", "no match")

  48. Hello,
    I have two data sets (sheets), first columns in both the sheets have data that can be matched. Based on the first columns, I want to create a new data set having the expanded data for each of the columns.

    Thanks.

  49. Hi- Thanks for your post. I have another requirement.
    I have two columns ex A and B. In col A is a list of employees and Col B is list of employees (kind of sub set of Col A), Col B can contain all the employees present in Col A, but if any employee left in this month then that employees name will be removed from Col B. Also Col B can contain new employees as well.

    So end of the month I want to run a report and show that Which all employees Of col A is present in Col B , list them in a new col C, and also Column C also should list out if any new employees names are found in column B and put that also in Column C.

    Can you help?

  50. I have 2 sheets. 1 has a column with 14 digit numbers representing products. The 2nd sheet has a column with 10 digit numbers also representing products. Product descriptions are different in each sheet. I want to verify the list of 10 digit numbers are included within the sheet with 14 digit numbers. Can you help? Thanks!

    1. Hello Jen,

      For us to be able to assist you better, please send us a small sample table with your data in Excel and include the expected result. Thank you.

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