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 15. Total comments: 551

  1. 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!

  2. Very helpful. Thanks so much!

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

  4. 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.

  5. Thanx. it helped me.

  6. 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.

  7. 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")

  8. 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.

  9. 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?

  10. 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.

  11. Thanks a lot,
    It saved me couple of hours.

  12. I have a Google spreadsheet with 50 separate titled sheets with one that I have labeled as Forms_Received. All sheets are different meetings that we have going on and I need to compare a column in all the sheets with the Forms_Received sheet and have a column in all the sheets marked with "Y" if a form was received on each of the sheets. I would prefer that the "Y" be an exact match from the column in the Forms_Received sheet, since it will have a linked document attached to the "Y". What formula should I use? If you need to see what I am talking about, please let me know.
    Thank you,

  13. I need a formula to count how many times column A has a ON and NS that represents a CU in column B. In the case below ON and NS represent a total of 3 CU's in column B

    A B
    ON CU
    BC CU
    AB CU
    ON CU
    NS CU
    NS BA

    Eg. =+COUNTIFS(QtradePartners!B3:B136,"=ON",QtradePartners!B3:B136,"=NS",QtradePartners!C3:C136,"=CU") ... THIS IS NOT WORKING and I think it makes sense that it doens't work... Anyone help?

    1. Hello Marc,

      Please, you can use the following formula:
      =COUNTIFS(A:A,"ON",B:B,"CU") + COUNTIFS(A:A,"NS",B:B,"CU")

  14. List 1 List 2
    1 a
    2 a
    3 b
    3 b
    1 a
    3 c
    1 d

    Hello, please help me in the above example. I want to check if list 1 and List 2 has same row values. Like first row is same as the fifth so row 3 and 4.

    WHat formula should I use.

    1. Hello Ashok,

      Please, you can use the following formula:
      =IF(COUNTIFS(A:A,A2,B:B,B2)< 2,"no match","match")

  15. Hello
    I have two excel sheets
    One sheets boys sheet mention name, gotra, year, qualification salary
    second sheets girls mention name, gotra, year, qualification salary
    how we can match it

  16. Hi, I have two columns.

    column A: a list of 60 different distinct computer hardware in every cell.

    Column B: over a thousand combination of not only including from 0 up to 10 computer hardware, but also have brand names in each cell.

    All I want to achieve is to display in column C what are those computer hardware A shown up in B, in the same row as in column B.

    Thank you for your time.

  17. Hi, whuch formula should I use if I want to compare 2 excel sheets. 1 has been revised and 1 has no changed.
    please help!!!! Thank you

      1. i love you.

      2. I fully comprehend, by virtue of your tutorial, as to how to compare two excel files for differences. But then I need learn how to compare the two excel files (and also the two/more columns/rows within an excel file) for matches or similar entries.
        Thanking you in anticipation.

  18. Dear,

    Need your advice.

    How to take data from two columns to another table ie. if we have two columns and having some data true and false so i need to separate true data and false data in another table

  19. Hi Guys,

    Need your advice.

    How to check duplication of two numbers in two different column, with the two number provided in different sequence order. sample as in below.

    Column A Column B Column C (result)
    1234 2341 A=B

  20. Yes its working. Thank you so much. Grateful for the support.

  21. Thanx for such an informative article over excel,still struggling to find the solution ,Pl help if possible.
    I've two columns in which one column say B having exhaustive values,while in another say column A ,some values are missing.How to ascertain either through Vlookup,Countif or If,which values are missing. Here,it is to be noted that all data in A is in column B,but vice versa is not true. Just wanted to know missing data. Pl help in getting formula for the same.Total entries in column A is less than column B(vertically) Plzz..

    1. Hello Avinash,

      If my understanding of the task is correct, you need to identify the values that are present in column B, but not in column A. If so, you can use the following formula:
      =IF(COUNTIF($A:$A, $B2)=0, "missing", "")

      Where B2 is the topmost cell with data, ignoring column headers.

      When you copy the formula down the column, the word "missing" will appear in the rows containing data in column B that do not appear anywhere in column A. To get a list of missing values, apply Excel's auto-filter, filter the formula column by "missing" and copy the filtered values in column B.

  22. Afternoon,
    I want to put a conditional format in column B.
    I have a target number in column A and input Actual in B.
    I want a conditional format in B
    if the number is same as or above target in A then "fill" the cell otherwise no fill.

    610 0 - no fill
    1525 915 - no fill
    610 0 - no fill
    610 710 - fill
    610 610 - fill
    305 0 - no fill

  23. Sorry,
    I posted before completing the question

    I want to compare likewise

    A B C
    Danta,Alex,John,Ryan Alex,Ryan,Danta,John True
    John,Alex,Ryan Alex,John,Danta False
    Michelle,Rob,Sean Michelle,Rob,Sean True

  24. Hello,

    I want to know can we compare this type cells

    Cell A

  25. Hi,
    Let say that column A has 2 cells and are as follow:
    A1 : 10
    A2 : 20
    And in column C there are 2 cells as follow:
    C1 : 10,20
    C2 : 20,10
    In cell B1 I want that it searches in A1 cell that is 10 and if the first number in column C is 10(that is C1 and not C2), it copies cell C1 in B1.

  26. Hi i currently using index and match function in excel, to auto match and index the value back, if i put a set of new data to compare with my original data.

    But however sometime a new data had a multiple result , how to i auto insert a row on the original data columns for the multiple result?

    this is my formula code : =INDEX($L:$L,MATCH($A:$A,$K:$K,0)) it could match and bring back the index value back i wanted ... but those with multiple result it only return back to the first result it show.

    regards istillanoob

  27. Hello.. I now actually trying using Index match/IF function to try to index the value from “ColE” onto “ColB” , by matching “ColA” compare with “ColD”.

    For my eg.
    Shown below “Urr” got 3 different value in “ColE” how to I match and insert the three “Urr” with the different number
    result in “ColE” onto “ColA” with the same exact result number should appear in “ColB”???
    And “colA” “Usw” data still match with “ColD” “Usw”even is not in the same row?

    something like new data replace with original data orderly, plus without deleting original data if the data don not appear in new data.

    Eg.

    ColA
    Doman
    Urr
    Usw

    ColD ColE
    Doman 1234
    Urr 12345
    Urr 12345
    Urr 12346

  28. if column A has names and column D has dates. Is there a way to highlight equal dates that belong to the same name?

    1. Hello Jonathon,

      You can create a conditional formatting rule with the following formula:

      =COUNTIFS(A:A, A1, D:D, D1)>1

  29. Somebody to help me....
    Dear all,
    I have a huge problem...
    I have two rows A and B,
    Values in column A (3,4,4,5,5,6) in column B (3,3,4,5,6,6), I wont to compare this two column
    3 with 3 nothing
    4 with 4 nothing
    4 with x 4
    5 with 5 nothing
    5 with x 5
    nad reverse (if you dont have in column A, have in column B) also to be in column C.
    If you understan (match just once number by number), if aleready match to give me value.
    Tnks a lot, to all.

  30. Data validation list A =a1:a10
    Data validation list b =b1:b10

    link cell D1

    my problem is if selected list from List A or List B cell D1 change automatically any formula or any solution

  31. Hey sir if I'm having 5 cells in 2 columns say column A and Column B.
    with entries like.
    Column A Column B
    1. B21 Rojer
    2. B11 Rojer
    3. A11 Adam
    4. A11 Adam
    5. C22 Chris
    6. C22 Chris
    How can I select the row 1 and row 2 which are having different code for same name Rojer

  32. USE THE FN EXACT.. FOR MATCHING TWO CLM

  33. Hi

    i need to compare one column to all the rows present in Second column.can someone answer?

  34. I have a product if statement but it’s not working properly

    see below

    =IF(SUMPRODUCT(($A$2:$A2=A2)*($B$2:$B2=B2)*($C$2:$C2=C2))>1,0,1)

    ….It’s not providing 0’s where there is repeat data across the columns based on the rows above. If it were working it would place a 0 rather than 1.

    Thank you Everyone!

  35. That output looked funky so I wanted to clarify:

    Col. A = #
    Col. B = Name
    Col. C = TYPE

    Col.D = Nails
    with 1 and 0 in data which shows a 1 as a unique listing throughout the rows above and columns A – C.

    Col. E = Comedy with the same statement as above with 1’s and 0’s
    Col. F = Mane ….
    Col. G = Paw ….

  36. # Name TYPE
    abcd Abbott Nails
    abcde Cost Comedy
    baco Lion Mane
    zhty Bear Paw
    zhty Bear Paw

    The above is a simplified version of my data however there are numerous rows and columns but overall I would like to identify unique values across columns and rows simultaneously by documenting it with a 1 as unique or a 0 as it occurred in previous rows across columns.

    # Name TYPE Nails Comedy Mane Paw
    abcd Abbott Nails 1 0 0 0
    abcde Cost Comedy 0 1 0 0
    abcde Cost Comedy 0 0 0 0
    baco Lion Mane 0 1 0 0
    baco Lion Mane 0 0 0 0
    zhty Bear Paw 0 0 0 1
    zhty Lion Mane 0 0 1 1

  37. Thanks for tutorial. The comparing can be done with Excel Vba Codes .The compare process can be made with Excel Vba Worksheet.Countif Function .

    Two columns in different worksheets were compared in this template .Found different results as entire row were copied to second worksheet .
    Codes :
    "Dim stk, msb As Worksheet
    Set stk = Sheets("Page1")
    Set msb = Sheets("Page2")

    Application.ScreenUpdating = False
    sat = (msb.Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row) + 1
    For i = 2 To stk.Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
    If WorksheetFunction.CountIf(msb.Range("A2:A" & msb.Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row), stk.Cells(i, "A")) = 0 Then
    msb.Range("a" & sat).EntireRow.Value = stk.Range("a" & i).EntireRow.Value
    msb.Range("a" & sat).Interior.ColorIndex = 22
    sat = sat + 1
    End If
    Next
    ...
    "
    Template at :http://goo.gl/ZeOwa2

  38. Hi,

    your description is actually very clear and helpful,thanks a lot. But with my data set it didn´t work for some reason. I want to compare two columns with gene names to find genes which are in column A and in column B, so i tried your example "Example 3. Highlight matches (duplicates) between 2 columns" respectively "Example 2. Highlight unique entries in each list", but unfortunately no cells were marked although there are duplicates. Do you have any idea why this happened?

    Thanks a lot!!

  39. I've been using a column compare macro which gives me the data (which is there in column A but not in column b) into column C AND the data (which is there column B but not in column A) into column D. I'm trying to find out the formula used to make this macro.

    Thanks!

  40. kindly help me to assign the remarks of attendence as excellent, good or bad based on the student attendence. It will be mentioned in range as 95-99 as Excellent,90-94 as good, 85-89 as average and like.
    kindly reply

    1. Hi Manoj,

      You need nested IF functions for this. For example:
      =IF(A2>=95, "Excellent", IF(A2>=90, "Good", IF(A2>=85, "Average", "Poor ")))

  41. I have a spreadsheet that needs to be alpha dominant where column A is a lower alpha character and column B wants to be a higher alpha character relative to column A.
    An example of this is.
    Column A Column B
    ABC DEF

    However, if the columns A and B values are flipped where it is not the correct output such as will be incorrect.
    Column A Column B
    DEF ABC

    I need a formula to weed out the lower alpha to higher alpha issue on a spreadsheet with thousands of rows.

    Thanks

  42. I read this article and its great but I haven't found solution to my problem.
    I need to compare every to cells in a column that belongs to same object in 2 rows.
    I mean for each object (out of many objects) I have 2 rows and multiple columns and for every each of this columns I need to compare every 2 cells (that are one row after another) to see if the data is the same, if not then I need to highlight the 2 cells.
    I hope someone can understand me and answer me. I need some condition or maybe to write a command in Macro.

  43. I have large amount of data,

    Example
    COL-A " PIPE SEAMLESS API 5L Gr. B PSL2 NACE+HIC 3/4"(20 MM) SCH 80 PLAIN END ASME B36.10M "

    COL B- " PIPE SEAMLESS API 5L GR B PSL2 NACE + HIC 0.75 SCH 80 PLAIN END ASME B36.10M "

    I want to find the difference in content of cell,
    e.g in example difference between COL-A & COL-B is {3/4"(20 MM) & 0.75}

    Can anyone help?

  44. Hi,

    I have 1 spreadsheet with 4 separete text tables. Each table contains a code on the first column and a description on the second.

    How can I highlight the mtaching letters sequence or identical words on the second column (description) of two considered tables?

  45. I have 2 excel worksheets. 1st sheet contain 900 names with details in 9 columns.
    2nd sheet is with 600 names (which are available in above 900) but with different details in 6 columns.
    I want to merge the details of 2nd list of 600 with those details of 600 available in the 900 name list.
    How to do this.

  46. Hi I have beeen stuck in a problem I have data with mulipt column with simlier values but different lenght =INDEX($B$2:$B$6,MATCH($D2,$A$2:$A$6,0))
    but problem is i have four columns withe common values in one two or three oe all four like your banan expmale so i want to extract the rspective values for common values in multiple columns how it will work tell me please or some other method

  47. Its very good site, which is useful and saved my one week manual effort.

    Regards,
    Satish

  48. I've been searching for a solution to this, but have so far haven't found an answer.

    In a soccer league consisting of several matches there are a number of two differing outcomes to a specific criteria.

    Here's a summary:

    League and Result
    ASIA: East Asian Championship Won
    ASIA: East Asian Championship Lost
    ASIA: East Asian Championship Women Lost
    ASIA: East Asian Championship Women Won
    AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Premier League Won
    AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Premier League Lost
    AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Premier League Won
    AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Premier League Lost
    AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Premier League Lost
    AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Premier League Won
    AUSTRALIA: Capital Territory Won
    AUSTRALIA: Capital Territory Won
    AUSTRALIA: Capital Territory Won
    AUSTRALIA: Capital Territory Won
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Lost
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Won
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Lost
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Won
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Lost
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Won
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Lost
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Lost

    What I want to do is create a report that lists each league and counts the number of Wins and Losses in each:

    League Criteria
    ASIA: East Asian Championship Won 1
    ASIA: East Asian Championship Lost 1
    ASIA: East Asian Championship Women Lost 1
    ASIA: East Asian Championship Women Won 1
    AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Premier League Won 3
    AUSTRALIA: Brisbane Premier League Lost 3
    AUSTRALIA: Capital Territory Won 4
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Lost 5
    AUSTRALIA: Northern NSW Won 3

    I've looked at Pivots, and that goes some of the way there. But I can't figure out how to count the number of wins and losses in each of the leagues.

    Many thanks :)

  49. row to row cheque the same the
    numbar

  50. hi....
    I need a help to compare two sheets but it should compare the entire row only if there first column matches.
    for example:

    Sheet1
    Row ID Order ID
    32298 CA-2012-124891

    26341 IN-2013-77878

    25330 IN-2013-71249

    13524 ES-2013-1579342

    Sheet2
    Row ID Order ID
    32298 CA-2012-124891
    26341 IN-2013-77878
    25330 IN-2013-71249

    here suppose row number 2,4,6 are blank or u can say contains other data. But need to compare row only when rowID matches...
    32298==32298 but they are in different row numbers

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