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 →

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Comments page 6. Total comments: 550

  1. Hello there,
    I have 30 questions (from Row 2 to 31 and Row 1 is header row). Column A is for question number, Column B is for correct answer, Column C is student 1 answer, Column D is student 2 answer and so on..
    I just want total correct answers for each student in row 32. I dont know if we can do anything with countif or sumif.. but what i did was, I added 1 column in the right for each student and then i put a simple formula if his/her answer matches with column B then 1 else 0, and the summing up in row 32.. is there any way to avoid those extra columns?

    2. Never mind.. i got my answer.. using sumproduct..

  2. Hi there,
    I need help, bellow here is the scenario.
    Column A = Client names
    Column B = Manager name
    Column C = Sign off date
    Identify any records where “Client Name” paired with “Manager name” has answer to “Sign off date” with dates that are not equal.

  3. I have an interesting problem. I am developing a project with 7 teams of 15 people on each team. One person may not be on more than one team. I want to find if I have put the same person on more than one team and highlight the name in both cells. I think it is a look for duplicates, but I cannot find a solution across 7 non-contiguous columns. Thank you so much for your help.

  4. NEED HELP.
    SCENARIO:
    CELL A1= 3/6/2020
    CELL B2= EMPTY
    CELL C3=+10 DAYS IF A1 HAS DATE, +10DAYS IF B2 HAS DATE AND A1 IS EMPTY, IF BOTH BLANKS IT RETURNS TO ZERO VALUE.
    WHAT IS THE FORMULA THIS SCENARIO?

    1. Hello Fred!
      If I understand your task correctly, the following formula should work for you:
      =IF(A1>0, 10,IF(B2>0, 10,0))

  5. What should i do if I am comparing tow columns with names, but the names dont match exactly.
    Example
    In Column A: Tom Jones
    In Column B: Thomas Jones
    when i do a vlookup, it would only match if they both were exact match. i want to show them as a match with my vlookup since they are the same people, what should i do?

  6. Hi I really like your blogs, but I just feel I have to sit down and learn this to understand all the fields etc. which is right now not so possible, I would appreciate if I can get a quick answer for my problem if there is a natural way or thru one of your tools to get this solved.
    I'm getting workbooks from my supplier containing info of items and pricing in divided several columns and this is continuously being updated, I would want an easy way to highlight single items of the list that had a price change, and if it went up or down, also adding the new items of the new list, and if there is missing items in the new list due to out of stock.
    Thank so much
    V.K.

  7. Hello .. I have a small pickle here :-).

    I have some data in sheet "XYZ" in Column A and some data in sheet "ABC" in Columns A and B.
    I need compare sheet "XYZ" Column A with sheet "ABC" column A and if there is a match on specific row, I need to move data from sheet "ABC" column B to sheet "XYZ" to column B.

    For exapmle:
    Sheet "XYZ" A3 has match with sheet "ABC" A7. So data from sheet "ABC" B7 will move to sheet "XYZ" B3.

    Hope I have described it correctly :-).
    I really appreciate you help!
    Standa

  8. Just wanted to say you are awesome! and thank you!

  9. COLUNN A COLUMN B COLUMN C
    APPLE 2 2.1
    APPLE 3 3.8
    CARROT 4 4
    RADISH 4 4
    I WANT TO TALLY ONLY APPLE 2 & APPLE 3 AS BOTH ARE SAME NAME AND IN COLUMN C IGNORE THE FRACTION SO APPLLE IS SAME IN COUMN B & COLUMN C IN FIRST & SECOND ROW . I WANT ONLY FIRST & SECOND ROW

  10. I need an help to sum the value. However, not sure how to sum it if we have common ref more than 1 time and needs to sum the value against each cell?

  11. Thank you so much, as usual, you answered question with multiple varying excel features in a well explained, organized, and documented fashion. The only downside is that you've spoiled me, and I get frustrated with other websites that are not of this caliber.

    1. Thank you, Mike! We'll do our best to keep the bar high :)

  12. Hi,
    I have two columns of addresses which I need to match. I have been using the IF function. =IF(B2=C2,"Match ","Not Match").
    But the data within the columns differs even though it’s the same address e.g.
    B2
    123 Haig Court, Chelmsford and storeroom 123 (CM2 0BH)
    456 Haig Court, Chelmsford and store room 456 (CM2 0BH)

    C2
    123 Haig Court, Chelmsford CM2 0BH.
    456 Haig Court, Chelmsford CM2 0BH.
    We can see both examples the addresses are the same, but clearly, the IF function won’t match them.
    Is there a formula which will match part of the string, say up to the first comma ( ,)
    thanks

  13. I was an absolute hater of Microsoft Excel .. till I tumbled upon your website / blog. You make it so easy to understand stuff and also provide usable samples/code.

    THANK YOU!!!

  14. I need help with a formula please. I'm horrible at Excel. When I enter an amount in Questionnaire B4, I need it to find the same number from a column on Title Search A4-A1003 and fill in the number from the column Title Search B4-B1003. I need that fee to show up on Cover Sheet A22. Thank you so much.

  15. I have 2 sheets that I want to compare to hightlight. On sheet one i have person name and work zone and shift and on second sheet i have the same plus other information. I want to highlight the name on the first sheet if they exist on the second sheet. So a form of conditional formatting with certain criteria for duplication. As I have several people with the same name, the matching of work zone and shift is used to differentiate. Can this be done or is it beyond excel capabilities and I'll just have to keep manually checking?

  16. I want to compare dates, to get Match, Old, or New based on greater that or less than values. I understand the match, how can I add the other two options? There has to be a way to do this...

  17. Perfect answers. Many thanks :-)

  18. I have a file of over 12,000 entries. First name, Last name, etc. per entry. Two of the columns are dates (m/d/y) and I need to calculate how many days have passed between the first
    and second dates down the entire 12,000 entries and insert the result of the calculation into a third column next to the proper entry. I cannot find any code that will do that. Can you help?

  19. great. the article is so helpful. thanks

  20. Hi,
    I run a vlookup to match 2 sets of data. E,g I have product ID in Sheet 1 Column A. I want to match it with sheet 2 which returns value in column B. Is there a way when I run this Vlookup it can highlight the cells that were not matched from column B?

  21. hello
    i'm creating a Lease calculator for that i have a coloum that contains the models of vehiles and another coloum contains Insurance premium of X company and another coloum contains Insurance premium of y company and another coloum contains Insurance premium of X company. and i have created dropdown list to select vehicle models and another dropdown list to select Insurance company. so if i select a vehicle model and a Insurance company the premimum must appear in a cell
    please help urgent

  22. how to get value using vlookup by background cell color with cell values,

  23. Hi all, can i do bank reconciliation in excel, with just uploading or copy paste the bank statement and the analysis of cash from our system?, im dealing with 20k lines of reconciling items. thank you for your response

  24. how to count the difference in characters between two cell texts in excel.
    for example, Apple and Appde got 2 difference (after 3rd character)

  25. i have details in two columns as origin and destiantion ---- in same record some locations which are in destination are avbl as origin too...now i want both those location together which are having similar name irrespective of origin or dest...

    COLM A COLUM B SALE
    ORG DEST.
    DELHI GURGAON 15
    INDORE BHOPAL 20
    GURGAON DELHI 18

    NOW HOW CAN I GET COMMON LOCATION (DELHI-GURGAON & GURGAON-DELHI)ALTOGETHER ----OR INFRONT OF
    EACHOTHER.

  26. i have details in two columns as origin and destiantion ---- in same record some locations which are in destination are avbl as origin too...now i want both those location together which are having similar name irrespective of origin or dest...

    COLM A COLUM B SALE
    ORG DEST.
    DELHI GURGAON 15
    INDORE BHOPAL 20
    GURGAON DELHI 18

    NOW HOW CAN I GET COMMON LOCATION (DELHI-GURGAON & GURGAON-DELHI)ALTOGETHER ----OR INFRONT OF
    EACHOTHER.

  27. I have two columns in a worksheet, column one is a share code (300 codes) column two is that share capitalization in greater to smaller order. These two columns are only entered once a year at the beginning of the financial year.
    Column 3 and 4 are entered once a week and formatted in the same way greater to smaller but course the order will be different as capitalization change.
    so for example row 1 in column A will show a code for the highest capitalization at the beginning of the year.
    but one month later column 3 and four will show a different result.
    I would like to high light these change by colour change in the positive changes only row cells.

  28. Hi I want to extract a text which is not matching with other text in two columns. is there any formula we can use in excel

  29. Conditional Formatting 'Add Rule' does not appear on Excel Online. Can someone kindly advise how to set up formatting which highlights a cell when that cell matches any given number in a table range?

    The 'equal to' option only seems to work for cell to cell value. I would like to search a table and the result would be Green for 'match' and red for 'no match' value.

  30. DATE PRODUCT OPEING STOCK IN OUT RETURN CLOSING
    01-06-19 A 100 10 5 20 125
    01-06-19 B 200 20 10 30 240
    02-06-19 A 125
    02-06-19 B 240
    NEW DATE ENTER TO CLOSING STOCKING AUTOMATIC OPENING STOCK & ONE DATE ENTER TO ALL ONE DATE PRODUCT SHOW FORMULA

  31. I think you meant well, but your explanation is confusing to me. Sorry.

  32. Thnakyou. Loads of love and gratitude.

  33. Dear all,

    Anyone know how to get ride of the #N/A form the formula of INDEX($B$33,MATCH(B5,$B$33,0),1).
    In fact, i just want a "" if not match.

    Thank you.

  34. Hello,

    I would like to seek your support in the below, i have a long list of Part numbers in column A (one part number could be repeated in different rows) and the unit price in Column B. I need a formula so i can know if the same part number has different Unit prices.

    Thanks

  35. Hi
    I have an issue with excel. I have 3 columns. 1 column having a series and 1 column having a list and another one having a subset of the column having the list. If the subset has the value present in the list mentioned in the main list, need to replace it with the equivalent from the series list beside the main list.
    Kindly support

  36. Hi there

    I have a large Excel file with 3 Columns and consists of cross references.
    There are instances where duplications do occur but it depends on if both columns match.
    As an example this would be valid because it relates two different parts
    PART01 - XREF01
    PART02 - XREF01

    But I want to get rid of instances where two rows match in both columns:
    PART01 - XREF01
    PART01 - XREF01

    Any help and guidance would be very much appreciated.

    Thanks and Best Regards

    Steve

  37. I want a formula to identify if a particular customer code is allocated to more than two customers. For example, there are two customers A & B each having a respective customer code as A1 & B1 respectively, if by any chance the A1 code is allocated to customer B, then the cell should reflect an error.

  38. find difference of D and E column , even we add new column before D

  39. I need to compare 3 columns in which the three columns contain certain different values ie., 1,2,3 which match corresponding values in the same row. Also the matching values are not in the same row. Also i wish to highlight the cells with matching values.
    =IF(AND(A2=1,C2=1),"1"),IF(AND(B3-C3=1),A3=2,"2"),IF(AND(A4=B4=2),C4=1,"3"),IF(AND(A5=1,C5=2),"4"),IF(AND(A6=C6=2),B6=1,"5"),IF(AND(A7=2,B7=2,C7=2),"6")
    please help the correct sintex in the above formula and send my mail, thanks

  40. Good Day Team

    Now on the right hand side you have the 0's and 1's, which is what i want Excel to fill appropriately.

    On the left hand is that data source

    Now it should work like this:

    Check H3 within B3:G4

    If found use '1' if not found use '0'

    Now rightly O4 worked appropriately by detecting "Guilder" in A4 and "Guilder" in O4 returning '1' and same for "Guinness stout"

    But for Hero it returned "0", which is wrong.

    Please i want to code appropriately by telling excel to search for entries in row 3 as reference from A4:F4.

    For instance, Search for "33 Export" in H3 within the array A4:F4, if True return 1, else return 0. do this for all other products till you get to "Hero". Next Repeat same process in other rows downwards retaining H3:S3 as a fixed reference.

    Can you help?

    Thanks so much i await your response

  41. hi

    I need to compare 2 columns in which both columns contain certain matching text which match corresponding amounts in the same row. Also the matching text are not in the same row. Also i wish to highlight the cells with matching texts.

    is there a formula?

  42. Helo. I have a problem. The problem is that I have a master list of two pages comprising of three columns i.e Economic Class, ID code and Activity. Now every month I have to extract a list of 30 pages in excel and verify if there has been any wrong combinations in connection with my master list. I would be very grateful if I could be shown a way of how to do it using a formula.
    Thank you.

  43. Hello,

    I am trying to reconcile inventory data. I have a list of asset ID's in column A pulled from a database export. Their database location is in column B.

    I want to make sure my scanned Asset ID's and Locations Match what is in the database (or highlight when they don't match so I can make a movement in the database)

    My plan was to add the scanned asset tag data below the asset ID's in column A and the associated scanned locations in column B. I highlight duplicates from column A to make sure I accounted for all of them. Is there a way to say "IF column A has a duplicate value in another row further down the spreadsheet, does column B match the row?"
    Essentially I want it to find the duplicate data in the same column and then make sure column B also matches for that duplicate.

    I might be making this harder than it has to be, just couldn't find a good way to organize that formula.

  44. Hello, I have two columns, say column A and column B, with pricing in them and I want to compare those. I want to highlight the value in column B if it is + or - 10% of the value in column A. Looking for the formula I should use to get there. Thanks

  45. Hi,
    Below is the data,
    Sale order have a some of line items and result is three type A, B, C
    For one sale order all line item has C means , result should come as Completed

    Sale Order # Line # Status
    10045 10 A
    10048 20 C
    10045 30 C
    10045 40 C
    10045 50 B
    10045 60 C
    10046 10 C
    10046 20 C
    10046 30 C
    10046 40 C
    10046 50 C
    10046 60 C

    =IF((P2=L:L),IF(N:N="C","Completed","Not Completed"))

    Pls confirm

    1. Saran:
      If I understand your question this should work:
      =IF(C2="C"',"Completed","Not Completed")
      Then just copy the formula down the column to get the results for the respective data. No need to enter a range as in "L:L".

  46. Hello..I have two sheet in first sheet 5 columns like gstin no., invoice no., amount, cgst, and sgst in second sheet also same columns there are more data. Now i want to find match firts sheet data in second sheet is it possible to find match data in easy method and short time please tell me.

  47. Hello! I have a situation where for two columns (product number and colour), if any rows in first column (Product Number) have duplicate values, then the corresponding value of colour (second column) SHOULD also be the the same. If there are any violations, then they must be highlighted.
    Example:

    Product Number Colour

    12345678 Black
    12345678 Black
    12986533 Blue
    12344321 Red
    12344321 Yellow

    In above example, row 1 and 2 must pass the condition (duplicate values in both columns) but row 3 and 4 must fail and must be highlighted (duplicate values in one columns but not in another).

    Expected result
    * Rows in column 1 with no duplicates be ignored
    * Rows with duplicates in column 1 and also in column 2 be ignored
    * Rows with duplicates in column 1 but not in column 2 must be highlighted

    In above examples, rows to be highlighted are
    12344321 Red
    12344321 Yellow

    Thanks!

  48. Thanks so much for this tutorial. I've read each response but still haven't found the solution I need. How can I perform a case insensitive partial match from one column to the next? Example.

    Column A

    green
    red
    brown

    Column B

    The green tree
    Orange Leaves
    Brown Dirt

    I would like to search all the phrases in Column B with the words in Column A.

    Desired Outcome:

    The Phrase "The green tree" in column B should be identified because the word "green" from column A was found.

    The Phrase "Brown Dirt" in column B should be identified because the word "brown" from column A was found.

    I've scoured the web looking for a solution and I haven't found one that can be easily used without the knowledge of writing code.

    1. Have you been able to find a solution for this? I have the exact same issue. I only need to find a partial match and then sum it all up. I have over 80k (x3) line items to search...

  49. This post was SO helpful thank you!

  50. Thank You

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