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 2. Total comments: 552

  1. How I can compare only part of the text in two columns in the same row for this case:
    Column A contains abc-123
    Column B contains abc
    I want column C to get FALSE if left part of the text in column A isn't the same.

    Thank you!

  2. Thank you so much!
    I'd been looking for a formula forever, trying to figure out how to compare two columns of data (not just the corresponding rows) & have a separate column display whether one of the entries was unique to one list or not.
    Many thanks :)

  3. Hi
    Could you please help me on below query.

    In column a i have date and in column b i have date and other text.
    How can I verify column a date and column b dates. If both are same

  4. how do we find true/false when cell "A" contain the name "a b c" and cell "B" contains the name "c a b"

  5. Hi,

    Is there a way to only highlight one set of duplicate in both columns?

    If column A has the following numbers: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 & 25
    Then column B has the following numbers: 20, 20, 21, 22, 23, 20 & 25

    Could only (1) of the 20s in column B be highlighted leaving the other 20 un-highlighted?

    1. Hi!
      If I understand the problem correctly, add another condition to the conditional formatting formula:

      =AND(COUNTIF($C$2:$C$20, $A2)>0, COUNTIF($A$2:$A2, $A2)=1)

      The second condition will allow only the first duplicate in the column to be highlighted with color.

      1. Hello Alexander,

        I believe you are close to figuring out my issue. If I use my example above, from A2-A7 I have entered 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 & 25 and from C2-C8 I have entered 20, 20, 21 22, 23, 20 & 25. After entering your formula, the first set of 20s are highlighted in cells A2 & C2 while the 20s in C3 & C7 are not highlighted - this is what I was looking for, thank you! However, the 21 in cell A3 is not highlighted while the 21 in cell C4 is highlighted. Additionally, the 24 in cell A6 is highlighted when there is not a duplicate 24 in column C.

        I am looking to review a large set of numbers in (2) columns to see if the costs from one column are reflected in the 2nd. If the costs are only in (1) column then I will know something needs to happen in my budget to bring it back to normal. However, there will likely be the same number multiple times in both columns and I need a way to show which did not get reflected in the 2nd column. Please let me know if this situation makes sense or if there is a way to share my worksheet.

        Thank you,
        Gary

        1. Hi!
          I used your data and the conditional formatting formula suggested above for column A. Cells A2,A3,A4,A5 were highlighted. A6 - not highlighted.
          I don't know what conditional formatting formula you used for column C.

  6. In first cell I have values like A,B,C and in 2nd cell I have value of B,A,C in this case both cell values are same but sequence is not match I want return value as True and if any value missed then false how to do it in excel

  7. Thank you very much Alexander Trifuntov. Was looking for this for almost 4 hours.
    Thank you once again for sharing the Template.

    God Bless.

  8. Thank you for your explanation but is there a function to know if two cells are on the same row in an other sheet ?

  9. Good evening,
    I have a unique 'multi-condition' question I'm using for scaled criteria in Excel.
    I am matching paygrades (determined by O2, O3, O4, etc)
    --but I am scaling their qualitative value based on if their paygrade matches the paygrade requirement of the job.
    I am scaling it where:
    If the paygrades match, they get a 5 (highest),
    If they don't match (and only differ by one paygrade), they get a 3 (medium).
    If the paygrades don't match, but differ by More than 1, they get a 1 (lowest).

    End state: trying to maximize matching ability with scaled scores, but I'm struggling to do a multi-IF function
    --without needing to manually change the 3's (non-match) for those who differ by more than 1 paygrade to a 1.
    I hope that makes sense.
    In a large file, I require a formula that can do this.
    Thank you in advance for any assistance on the formula I need to input (after hours of searching for the code).
    Sincerely,
    --Josh

    1. Hi!
      Your task is not completely clear to me. To understand what you want to do, give an example of the source data and the desired result.

      1. Good day sir,
        Pardon the confusion, but please see below for reference:
        Data: Military Officers Matched to the Billet (Job) they fill, based on their paygrades (indicates their experience)
        Two columns:
        Column A is the Person's paygrade
        Column B is the Billet (Job's) required paygrade

        I wish to assign values, 1, 3 or 5, based on how Personnel paygrade match (or differ) from the Billet (job) paygrade requirement
        IE:
        If an O6 is filling an O6 job, value = 5
        If an O6 is filling an O5 job, value = 3
        If an O6 is filling an O4 job, value = 1
        Bottom line:
        if the Person paygrade (column A) matches requirement (column B) = 5
        If the person paygrade does NOT match requirement (differs by just 1) = 3
        If the person paygrade does NOT match requirement (differs by >1) = 1

        These values go into a (200x200) Matrix of all possible combinations (Personnel paygrade to Job paygrade requirement),
        --which will then be 'scaled' against monetized benefits of their 'possible' combinations
        Then this will be compared to a similar Matrix of monetized costs

        I hope this makes more sense.
        I just need a formula that can be dragged across various rows/columns to find these values (5, 3, 1)

        Thank you for any assistance.
        Sincerely,
        --Josh

        1. Hello!
          The information you provided is not enough to understand your case and give you any advice, sorry.
          Give me some data examples for the cells you mentioned and the desired results.

  10. Thanks for your excellent advice! I have a slightly more complicated "duplicated cells" comparison that I cannot solve. I have 2 columns of several hundred mosquito trap locations each (the cells contain addresses primarily, but some free text). I need to determine which cells are duplicates. However, the spelling could be slightly different in each column. For example, a cell in Column A has "1st Presbyterian Church" and a cell in Column B has "1st Pres Church". Another in Column A has "2208 GRANDHAVEN DR CONCORD NC 28027" and Column B has "2208 GRANDHAVEN DR". In both cases, these are the same location in reality, but because the text is not exact, do not result out as duplicates in the COUNTIF functions I have attempted. Is it possible to write a function for partial matches... such as matches for "2208" or "Pres" that would highlight the all cells that contain matching strings of numbers or text?. Thanks for any advice offered.

  11. Hello, I need to compare 2 columns, one is the status of something (complete, not complete, in process, stalled), and the other would be how many items have been ordered ONLY IF the status is "complete", but I am failing at every equation I try, help?

    1. Hi!
      The information you provided is not enough to understand your case and give you advice. I don't know how you want to compare columns. For example, instead of using the COUNTIF function, you can use COUNTIFS to take into account the status.
      Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional information to understand what you need.

  12. Column1 Column2
    Andy JOHNSON Andrew Johnson

    How can I highlight the difference in letters in this two names with another color ?

  13. Hi,

    Thank for the great article.

    Every singel one of this formulas gives me an "There is a problem with this formula" error when copy/pasting them into Excel...what am I doing wrong?

    1. Sorry, just found out. Your commas are semicolons on my Excel, no clue why, but took me a while to find out ;)

  14. I have to compare four column in two sheets. Like

    Sheet 1:
    column G "DHKMTRTA138217, DHKMTRTA162534,......... and Column E "DHAKA METRO-TA-13-8217", "DHAKA METRO-16-2534",...........

    Sheet 2:
    Column A "DHKMTRTA138217", "DHKMTRTA162534",.........

    I need a result in Column C of Sheet 2 "DHAKA METRO-TA-13-8217", "DHAKA METRO TA-16-2534",....... (Result need to pick from Sheet 1 column E)

    Would you kind help me to get the result

    Thank you
    Jewel

  15. I want that the values in Column B to Column Z gets highlighted as per the values entered in Column A. Two conditions for getting highlighted are 1.) When it is equal to or greater than the value of Column A
    2.) When it is in between the range of 90% to 99.99% of the value of Column A.

  16. I have two sheets. The first has two columns A has company names and B has the product they purchase. some companies are listed several times because they purchase various products. In Sheet two I have Company names (listed once) in column A starting in row 2 and the across row 1 I have the unique products. I would like to have the unique companies and all of the products they purchase in one row. example (Sheet 2 A2=company Name, all products that the company buys (listed in row 1) are then marked with an X across row 2) Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.

    1. Hello!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH($A$2&B1,Sheet1!A1:A100&Sheet1!B1:B100,0)),"X","")

      You can learn more about MATCH function in Excel in this article on our blog.

  17. I have two lengthy columns of data strings. I want to compare them and either put 0 for match or 1 for not match, then count how many not match.
    01Blue 01green
    02yellow 02yellow
    03orange 03red

    So I would want it to show
    # of differences
    01 1
    02 0
    03 1

  18. Hi,

    I wish to return a value of TRUE if all values in a series of Columns are present in another reference column.

    i.e.

    Reference Column
    A1
    A2
    A3
    A4
    A5

    Column Checked1
    A1
    A5
    A3

    Return TRUE

    Column Checked2
    A1
    B1
    A3

    Return FALSE

  19. I'm trying to compare two columns cell by cell or row by row to find values that are much higher or much lower than the estimated value in one column is there a simple way to do this?

    I not only want to know that there is a difference but how much the difference is can this be done with a formula also the values are labeled either E or G in a separate column is there a way to differentiate by these within the formula like IF "G" or something like that?

  20. I'm trying to compare two columns cell by cell or row by row to find values that are much higher or much lower than the estimated value in one column is there a simple way to do this?

    1. Hello!
      Have you tried the ways described in this blog post? If they don’t work for you, then please describe why. I’ll try to suggest a solution.

  21. Hello sir,
    I want to find this comparing two columns: If the email same in one column for two rows, the eligibility should be the same at another column. is there any formula finds the different ones (different eligibilities)? Thank you in advance

    1. Hello!
      Have you tried the ways described in this blog post? If they don’t work for you, then please describe your task in detail, I’ll try to suggest a solution.

  22. Hi sir

    master data "header in column A"

    FAN 250v
    HOUSING SS

    present data "header in column B"

    FAN, 25V
    HOUSING carbon steel

    I want to capture missing values and extra valves using "IF" function formula

    ex: first column missing value is 250V and extra value is 24V

    missing values to be extracted onto column C and extra values to be extracted column D

      1. Hi Sir,
        I want to compare data in column B1 to data in column A1 and what ever the missing part of data in column B1, i want it be entered in new column C1 and any extra data in column B1 compared to A1 i want it to be in new column D1

        A1 master data
        B1 worked data
        C1 missing data
        D1extra data

        for ex: columnA1 columnB1 column C1 column D1

        Fan 250V Fan 50V, 50 HZ 250V 50V,50HZ

        Here as shown above "Fan 250V" is master data and " Fan 50V, 50 HZ " is worked data, when we compare B1 with A1, 250V is missing in B1 so i want it to be entered in C1 as 250V and 50V, 50HZ is extra data in B1 compared to A1 so i want it to be entered in D1

        1. Hi!
          I'm really sorry, looks like this is not possible with the standard Excel options. The problem can be solved using a VBA macro.

        2. Hi sir,

          please consider this format

          input
          A1 master data: Fan 250V
          B1 worked data: Fan 50V, 50 HZ

          output
          C1 missing data: 250V
          D1 extra data: 50V,50HZ

          i want result like that output.....

  23. Hi
    I have data like this:

    Foreign Name Mobile Phone Telephone 2 Telephone 1
    38822 9873225232 9811991232 9811597655
    38823 9871955755
    38824 9818380011
    38825 9810086774
    38825 9987022284 8800596095 9810086774
    38826 9811090878
    38827 9312227934 9811126121 9811126121
    38828 9312664028
    38829 9811256883
    38829 9811550006

    Can you please help me to find all unique contacts from different columns for same Foreign Name.
    Note there are duplicates Foreign Name as well as duplicate contact numbers in a sheet.
    Waiting for the positive response....

  24. Hi Sir,
    I need your help, i want a formula of column A & B which match in cross pattern, eg- A2 moon has B2 Mercury & A4 Mercury has B4 Moon its Match,
    below i have shown the condition. its like X pattern .

    A B C
    SUN JUPITER
    MOON MERCURY match
    MARS SUN
    MERCURY MOON match
    JUPITER VENUS
    VENUS MARS
    SATURN SATURN

    Thanks

  25. I need a formula that will compare numbers in Column B on sheet 1 to numbers in column A in sheet 2 and if it finds a match return a value from column AD from sheet 2 to column A on sheet 1.

  26. Dear experts,
    I am looking for a formula to match two column values.

    Col 1 have 300,000 rows (contains numbers only)
    Col 2 have 220,000 rows (contains numbers only)

    I would like to compare first 800 column values with col2 (all the cell values) and print the matching values.

    Repeat the same for every 800 values(second one starts from 801 to 1600) in col1 and compare with all the col 2 values and display the matching values.

    Can we do this in one formula for every 800 values increments ?

    Expected Results:
    --------------------------
    Matching values for first 800 values : List all the matching values
    (increments of 800 every time)
    Matching values for 801-1600 values : List all the matching values

    please advise. Thanks in advance.

    Cheers,
    Jane

    1. Hello!
      To get a list of duplicates from two columns try this formula -

      =TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,UNIQUE(IFERROR(INDEX(A1:A800,IFERROR(MATCH(B1:B800,A1:A800,0),"")),"")))

      To concatenate all values into a string, use the TEXTJOIN function.

  27. Hello there!
    I have a sheet which contains code and product type as shown below.

    Code P.T.
    1.01 BCF
    1.01 BCF
    2.05 BCD
    2.03 BCF
    2.03 BCD

    I want to check which individual code have two or more similar product types or set of some specific product types, how can I do that. Also, Thanks in Advance.

  28. I have 30 days sheet. I just want to confirm if the same Name is repeated under the same cell like in J2. Is there any shortcut or formula to do the same?
    I tried this but not working

    ='1'!J1='2'!J1='3'!J1='4'!J1='5'!J1='6'!J1='7'!J1='8'!J1='9'!J1='10'!J1='11'!J1='12'!J1='13'!J1='14'!J1='15'!J1='16'!J1='17'!J1='18'!J1='19'!J1='20'!J1='21'!J1='22'!J1='23'!J1='24'!J1='25'!J1='26'!J1='27'!J1='28'!J1='29'!J1='30'!J1='31'!J1

    1. It's working with this.
      =IF(AND('1'!J1='2'!J1,'3'!J1='4'!J1,'5'!J1='6'!J1,'7'!J1='8'!J1,'9'!J1='10'!J1,'11'!J1='12'!J1,'13'!J1='14'!J1,'15'!J1='16'!J1,'17'!J1='18'!J1,'19'!J1='20'!J1,'21'!J1='22'!J1,'23'!J1='24'!J1,'25'!J1='26'!J1,'27'!J1='28'!J1,'29'!J1='30'!J1,'30'!J1='31'!J1),"Match", "")

  29. In my excel sheet, Column A is having names, Column B is having a Country name, Column C is having phone numbers, Column D is having a subject list and Column E is having status (Active or Inactive). How

    Can I create data with name, country, and status?

    I have to display the active students' names while I select the country.
    eg. If I select 'India', active students in India have to be displayed.

  30. Hello,

    I need to know if I can compare between two list columns and see the difference ( misses and similarities in between) the issue is that the data is not on the same order between the two columns but they are all the same type of data.

    Could you hap please.
    Thanks
    Sincerely yours.

  31. Hello. I need to compare two sets of numerical data (that have multiple equal entries) for differences, ie, if an amount may appear in one column four times, but only three times in the other column, or not at all. I need to see those differences. What would be the quickest way?

  32. I am trying to use the example under the section 'Compare two lists and highlight matches and differences' (Example 3. Highlight matches (duplicates) between 2 columns). Whilst i can get this to work okay, i was wondering if there was a way where if in list 1 there were 2 cells with the same value which match with a single cell in list 2, if it would be possible to only highlight one of the cells in list 1 rather than both, essentially leaving the other blank as it would not match any remaining numbers.

    For Example:

    List 1 List 2
    10 10
    10 20
    30 30

    In the above example I would want the first 10 in list 1 to match the 10 in list 2, and therefore highlight, leaving the second 10 in list 1 not highlighted. The 20 would not be highlighted of course, and the 30's would be highlighted as there is a straightforward match.

    Hopefully you can assist!

    1. Hello!
      Here are conditional formatting formulas that will highlight only straightforwards matches in columns A and C.

      =COUNTIF($C$2:$C$6, $A2)*(COUNTIF($A$2:A2, $A2) < = COUNTIF($C$2:$C$6, $A2))
      =COUNTIF($A$2:$A$6, $C2)*(COUNTIF($C$2:C2, $C2) < = COUNTIF($A$2:$A$6, $C2))

      I hope I answered your question.

  33. Hi how do i find out the total combinations of several numbers in a given column will be the numbers mentioned in another column ?

    Thanks in advance

  34. Hi. I have three columns of numerical data. Start score. Projected score. End Score. I want to highlight the growth or deficiencies between the columns. What would the formula be for something like that?

  35. Hi,
    I have two excel sheets: base stock values for parts, and how many parts are at a specific location. All parts have an assigned part number. Each sheet has three columns: part number(column a), description (column b), and a numeric value (column c). I need to compare the sheets based on part numbers and return the difference; how many of a part is needed to make base stock. Vlookup got me close, but the main issue is some parts have multiple part numbers and I'm not sure how to account for that. I need the parts with multiple part numbers to be grouped up and only return one value/difference for that group. Hope that makes sense. Have a slight feeling this has to be done in vba.

    Thanks for the help

    1. Hello!
      To find the sum of a group of parts, you can use the SUMIF function. The formula might look like this:

      =SUMIF(Sheet1!A2:A10,Sheet1!D1,Sheet1!C2:C10)-SUMIF(Sheet2!A2:A10,Sheet1!D1,Sheet2!C2:C10)
      Sheet1!D1 - part group.

      I hope my advice will help you solve your task.

  36. I have 8 columns. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H.
    I have to find a match if Column A range value matches Column D range and Column B range value matches Column E value. e.g. A1...An = D1..Dn AND B1..Bn = E1..En then True else False.

    Thanks,
    Mohammad

    1. Hi!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:

      =IF((SUM(--(A1=D1:D10)) > 0)*(SUM(--(B1=E1:E10)) > 0),TRUE)

      You can learn more about IF function with multiple conditions in Excel in this article on our blog.

  37. Hey Alexander, quick question I have two sheets both have names of students and their ID's. The issue is some names in one sheet are not present in the other so sheet 1 has names sheet 2 doesn't have and vice versa.

    Is there a way to maybe compare both data sets and get the differences? There has to be an easier way instead of manually going through each and every name on both sheets seeing the differences.

  38. How do I compare the numbers in column A to column B? There are 139 numbers listed in column A and I want to see if any of those numbers are in column B, which has 2399 numbers listed in it. What is the formula to do so?

    1. Hi!
      Have you tried the ways described in this blog post? If they don’t work for you, then please describe your task in detail, I’ll try to suggest a solution.

  39. Hi - thank you for the content.

    If I have a column containing duplicates and another column containing duplicates and non-duplicates in relation to the first column (but different values) - how do I find entries in the second column that are not duplicated in relation to the first?

    Example:

    COL1

    10491507PN
    10504180PR
    10600056PK
    10637712PW (dup)
    10637712PW (dup)
    10847773PE
    10862215PR
    10895567PF
    10931675P4
    10958992PO
    10968118P7 (dup)
    10968118P7 (dup)
    11383371PV
    11392084PW
    11650616PO

    COL2

    Comp
    Comp
    CompVV
    HomeCon (matches dup)
    HomeCon (matches dup)
    Comp
    Comp
    Comp
    Comp
    Comp
    TP (does not match dup)
    Comp (does not match dup)
    HomeCon
    HomeCon
    CompVV

    So in the above example I am aware 10637712PW is a duplicate. I need to also be aware the Col 2 has same values against that duplicate, eg HomeCon.

    I am also aware 10968118P7 is a duplicate and need to be aware that Col 2 has two different values against the duplicate, eg. TP and Comp.

    Please help?

      1. I figured out a way to solve this. Add two more columns, and in these, assign a number to all values in your second column, e.g. Comp is 42100 , CompVV is 42200, HomeCon is 42300 etc. You have to have two columns, with the same number in each. And use high values.

        Copy all the values from your original first column to a new sheet, remove duplicates, then with a COUNTIF formula count how many are there in your original first column of each. Then with a SUMIFS formula, sum the numbers in your first newly added column if they belong to a given value in your first original column. Then divide the result of these SUMIFS with the results of the COUNTIFS. Then lookup the numbers you get from this in your second added column. If they match, hooray, otherwise, there are different values assigned in your original second column to a value in your original first column.

        Hope this makes sense. It was much easier to do it then to explain it.

        1. This would be the end result using your values and my assigned numbers:

          10491507PN 1 42100 42100 42100
          10504180PR 1 42100 42100 42100
          10600056PK 1 42200 42200 42200
          10637712PW 2 84600 42300 42300
          10847773PE 1 42100 42100 42100
          10862215PR 1 42100 42100 42100
          10895567PF 1 42100 42100 42100
          10931675P4 1 42100 42100 42100
          10958992PO 1 42100 42100 42100
          10968118P7 2 84900 42450 #N/A
          11383371PV 1 42600 42600 42600
          11392084PW 1 42600 42600 42600
          11650616PO 1 42200 42200 42200

  40. if i have a value in A1 which i need to change to match value which is manually entered along the columns i.e if value is 10 and then 12 is entered into B1 i need A1 to match, and so on if 18 is entered into H1, A1 needs to change to 18

  41. Hello,
    I have a table with 50 columns and I want to create a new one who will display me if 2 or more values on the row are the same.
    Ex:

    No. C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 N
    10 5 3 20 20 3 21 4
    11 7 2 7 3 1 7 3
    In my exemple N is the new column and it says to me that 4 ( C3 = C4 so 2 columns, C2 = C5 so another 2 columns, therefor 4 will be display) of the 6 column are matching with atleas one other column.

    Thank you !

      1. Yes, you did.

        But if I would want to have the duplicates shown how can I do it ?

  42. Hi,
    I need to count number of Sunday's he worked by referring empid from one sheet to another sheet.

    Information in sheet1 is emp I'd column and no. Of Sunday's to count in another column.

    Information in sheet 2 is list of emp IDs and worked on all weekdays in days.

  43. Hi,
    If I have older text in column A and newer text in column B for some Cells.
    How do I merge both with a logic saying:
    If there is no new text on column B, keep text of column A. If there is text on Column B, take text from column B.
    Thank you

  44. Here is my example:

    Column A Column B Column C
    2 Yes 5
    1 No
    10 Yes 8

    Is there a formula to state," If ColumnB=yes, then change ColumnA to ColumnC or if ColumnB=no, then do not change ColumnA

    TIA

  45. I have values in two different columns like below Example
    A b
    1 a
    2 b
    5 c
    6
    d

    How to compare and get output in C column on the condition If A have values, I want value of A in column C, If A don't have value I want value of B in Colum C, If column A,B are Empty C should be Empty)

    Expected output

    A b C
    1 a 1
    2 b 2
    5 c 5
    6 6
    d d

  46. Thanks a bunch! Needed to highlight differences in two columns.

  47. I have file as file as below

    A B C || D E F || G H I
    XYZ
    PQR
    MNO

    Now each of the columns A/B/C/D.... has some entries.
    I want to check for XYZ if value in A=D=G and B=E=H and C=F=I if all of this conditions are true then the value for XYZ should be true or else false.

    RIght now I am using And condition and comparing the cell values individually which is time consuming.
    Is there elegant way of doing it.

    Note: Here number of set of columns can be 2/3/4 or more with each set having 2 or more columns.

  48. What formula can I compare two list in column A & B from sheet 1 & sheet 2 and find exact matches?

  49. Hi

    I want to compare A1 to range of columns C1-C15 and B1 to range of columns D1- D15. If both conditions meet then i should return true. Please provide a way to resolve this

    Thanks
    Preetha

    1. Hello!
      If in each cell of the range C1: C15 the same values should be written equal to A1 —

      =IF(PRODUCT(--(C1:C15=A1))*PRODUCT(--(D1:D15=B1))>0,TRUE,"")

      If this is not what you wanted, please describe the problem in more detail.

  50. How to see the differences in two colums which have dates.. But the difference has to find with the dd only.

    Eg: 20210501 20210601 with this data the dd part is matching
    20210501 20210616 with this data dd part is not matching ( this is i need to find in a sheet)

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