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 8. Total comments: 552

  1. 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

  2. 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?

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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

  6. 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".

  7. 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.

  8. 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!

  9. 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...

  10. This post was SO helpful thank you!

  11. Thank You

  12. Sorry you are having problems. Here is a copy of my IF(Countif ..... formula and this should help you, I hope.
    =IF(COUNTIF('2017 Assigned Org'!$A$5:$A$70,'2018 Assigned Org'!A7)=0,"New RC","")

    In my example, I am trying to find new RC's that were added in 2018 but did not exist in 2017. So my formula checks if the value in cell A7 of the 'Assigned Org' worksheet is found in rows A5:A70 of the '2017 Assigned Org' worksheet. And, I copy down the formula to all the rows in my '2018 Assigned Org' worksheet.

  13. Hi all,
    I tried the countif >0 formula to highlight duplicates in 2 different columns, I don't know whether I did it wrong.
    I have about 1500 cells in the one column (A) with invoice numbers, then in another column(B) are fewer invoice numbers that have been selected from the invoice numbers in (A). As a sample.

    I now want to go an highlight the invoice numbers that have been selected in B, in A, but quickly.

    PLEASE help. I really don't want to have to scroll through or even ctrl+f.

    Thank you
    L

  14. Thanks for the information, that really very much helpful.

  15. This helped so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!

  16. Nimsoft Dynatrace Match/No Match
    ATG BAU-API

    I'm not able to sort by the matchs. Even tried =IF(B3=C3, "Match", "")

    could you please help me.

  17. Example four does not do what you say. It does not compare two columns. It compares all cells in the columns; therefore, it will highlight all duplicates even if they are in the same column.

    1. Hi Doug,

      You are absolutely right. Don't know what I was thinking. I have removed that example from the article. Thank you for pointing that out!

  18. Hello,

    Hope you are all well. How to compare sheet1 to sheet2 and both have five columns in each UniqueId, FName, LName, MName, Status in Excel. First it should consider unique id, once UniqueId matches then it needs to make sure the other columns are matching exactly as other columns based on UniqueId. If they are not matching it should say False. I would appreciate if you could help me out

  19. Thanks for your great work you do by helping others..
    I have a unique problem seeking formula for use in Office 2010.

    Problem: Looking for a formula to :- Find matches in any two cells in the same row where.. For example column A has exactly five or 8 digit numbers and column B has only a single digit with result in column c stating match/no match

    Say.. i have two columns in Excel each having numbers.In the first column A i have 5 or 8 number digits exactly. in B i have a single digit. what i need to do is find if the number present in column B, is matching in column A with result in column c stating match/no match i have enjoyed your formula given "Example 2. Find matches in any two cells in the same row
    If you are looking for a way to compare columns for any two or more cells with the same values within the same row, use an IF formula with an OR statement: =IF(OR(A2=B2, B2=C2, A2=C2), "Match", "") " ...... But not helping with my problem Please reply. thanks

  20. I guess vlookup has the capability to see if element in column B is present in column A by comparing it with the whole column A. I have done it and am not able to figure out how to do it. Can you tell it.

  21. What if I need to mark a duplicate ONLY if the data in two columns is the same as in a different row?

    batch sn
    784666 F00001 S006
    784664 F00001 S005
    784668 F00001 S005
    784668 F00001 S006
    784668 F00001 S006

    Only the bottom row in this sample should be marked as a duplicate....

  22. Hi I am trying to compare twho list and use the formula =countif() but when I write the formula it gives an error that says "there is a problem in formula Not trying to type a formula? ..."
    And it does not accept the formula unless I delete = from the formula and if I delete it does not highlight the data. How can I fix it?

  23. Hello. I have a problem. I have been given a spreadsheet of students expected and actual grades in different subjects.

    I need to format the data so that if the expected grade is higher than the actual grade both turn red. if the actual grade is higher than the expected grade they both turn green and if both grades are the same they turn yellow.

    1. never mind. I found a solution that works

  24. I have a list of items and all have distinct names. I need to compare the items with a list of known partial matches and have the result be the partial match. For example:

    Distinct list:
    F-daniel-01
    R-rose-20
    C-daniel-03
    T-bob-35
    A-kevin-36

    Partial match list:
    daniel
    rose
    bob
    kevin

    Result:
    F-daniel-01 | daniel
    R-rose-20 | rose
    C-daniel-03 | daniel
    T-bob-35 | bob
    A-kevin-36 | kevin

    Any advise would be great

    1. I have the exact same problem and so far I have not been able to find a solution.

  25. How to give a different mark to Blank cell
    =IF(H38645=I38645,"Match","Null")

    AA AA
    CC CC
    TT AA
    TT
    TT GT

  26. Prices in different location as below :

    Article Code - Location A - Location B - Location C - Location D
    --------------------------------------------------------------------
    GWC-20100 -------- 0 ----------- 0 -------- 43.94 -------- 0 --------
    HED-20102 ---------0 --------- 53.55 ---------0 ---------- 0 --------
    AFC-201108 --------0 --------- 88.02 ------ 80.02 -------- 0 --------
    QRH-201202 --------0 --------- 87.07 -------- 0 -------- 87.07 ------
    DJS-201209 ----- 63.09 --------- 0 -------- 63.09 ------ 63.09 ------
    HTC-201210 ----- 74.17 ------- 74.17 -------- 0 ---------- 0 --------
    PIL-201301 ----- 71.66 ------- 71.66 ------ 71.66 -------- 0 --------
    YPC-201305 ----- 70.57 --------- 0 -------- 70.57 -------- 0 --------
    RPT-P8157 ------ 51.96 --------- 0 -------- 51.96 ------ 51.96 ------
    POL-P9142 -------- 0 ----------- 0 ---------- 0 -------- 36.49 ------

    May I know for the above conditions, what are the formula that can be used to cross check whether or not if the article code is having the same price in different location?

    Your advise is highly appreciated.

  27. Article Price in Price in Price in Price in
    Code Location A Location B Location C Location D
    --------------------------------------------------------------------
    GWC-20100 43.94
    HED-20102 53.55
    AFC-201108 80.02 80.02
    QRH-201202 87.07 87.07
    DJS-201209 63.09 63.09 63.09
    HTC-201210 74.17 74.17
    PIL-201301 71.66 71.66 71.66
    YPC-201305 70.57 70.57
    RPT-P8157 51.96 51.96 51.96
    POL-P9142 36.49

    May I know for the above conditions, what are the formula that can be used to cross check whether or not if the article code is having the same price in different location?

    Your advise is highly appreciated.

  28. How to verify if the names in col A have a match in col B using one, or two words contains or any idea how can be done. Thank you

    COLUMN A COLUMN B
    ANGEL MARIE DIZON ANGEL MARIE E DIZON
    OSCAR LUCAS MARK LUCAS MARK OSCAR
    JULIE LIM MAN AREVALO
    REYNOLD B WILLIAMS JULIE ANN LIM
    JEN MARIE YU REYNOLD WILLIAMS
    MAN AREVALO B JEN YU
    STARK JOHNSON ARCH MAY TAN
    ARCH TAN JOHNSON STARK

    1. Jejemole:
      I think the only way Excel can be used to help you with this is to use the Fuzzy Logic add-in from Microsoft.
      If you Google MS Fuzzy Logic you'll see the address. The description and instructions are there, too.

  29. I have Excel file. Where there were 3 column
    1 date
    2 credit
    3 multiple debit
    and I have to reconcile credit debit column and find out difference..
    Please help

  30. I have two excel files that have very similar data. I have been using conditional formatting to compare one file to another and to highlight the differences. The issue I am having is that the first column which has the unique value that aligns the rows changes at time. Is there a way to use vlookup to align the rows to then compare for differences so I can highlight the differences?

  31. Hi, I want to compare two lists using excel, but I am not sure how to make it work.

    For example,
    List 1 contain Apple1234, OrangeXYZ, Banana098, 512Pineapple.
    List 2 contain MN_Orange, 3462Apple, 534Pineapple, 786Banana.

    I want to arrange List 2 to be same as List 1 based on the fruits, which method should I use?

  32. hello I have a situation where column A contain the staff no. and column B,C,D and E contain Normal hrs.,OT1,OT2, public holiday/sunday hrs.
    Now the situation is that I have to cope the B,C,D and E on the same column according to column A (staff no.).

  33. I have two sets of data. Guest by country and I need to copy the same to different sheet.

  34. when excel worksheets have been programmed using these conditions, can we found back the corresponding vba code associated?

    1. J-Law:
      In the Developers Tab there is a tool to View Code. When you select it the modules are available. There you can select the module and you'll see the code.
      If you don't have the Developers tab active, in 2016 you can see how to open it and how to use the tools in Excel by entering: "Display the relationships between formulas and cells" in the Tell me what you want to do box and click the help option.
      Then you'll see the article which addresses your question.

  35. I am a beginner in VBA. i need to compare the values in co11 of row1, row2, row3 so on till the end of the file. if r1c1 = r2c1 then i want to add the values in r1f1 and r2f1, if not equals go to next row. if the value in b1 of row1, row2 and row3 are equal then i wish to add the value of col f in all the rows.
    please guide me Ms svet

    1. Prasad:
      Assisting users with VBA questions is beyond the scope of this blog. There are many other sites that can help you. Google "Beginner VBA Help" and you will find them.

  36. Hello I have a situation where i have column A with part number and column B which captures status if "quote recd" or "no quote".
    the quotes are valid for 7 days. if i receive the same part number request on the 10th day i want to highlight that part number to check the status column and highlight if we have ever received quote for that part number.
    i want to use conditional formatting to highlight that part number if anywhere in Column B it finds "quote recd".

    1. Abbas:
      Where are the dates stored? Wherever they are you can follow the same procedure to highlight them as outlined below.
      If you want to highlight the B cell if it contains "Quote Recd" then select the cells that you want to highlight, go to Conditional Formatting, select the "Cells Equal To:", type Quote Recd" in the field and choose the formatting color of your choice. Click Save and then OK. Your cells should be filled with the formatting of your choice.

  37. Thank you Svetlana Cheusheva. this article really helped me. keep up the great job.

  38. Hello!
    I have 2 different sheets. On sheet2, I want to find the PN 4324568 at what is the location and it pulls the data from sheet1 which is location 14. What formula do I need?

    Sheet1
    Col A
    Row 1 PN 4324568
    Row 2 Location 14

    Sheet2
    Col A
    Row 1 PN 4324568
    Row 2 Location ??

    Thanks, Dan

    1. Dan:
      If you structure your data in sheet 1 by having PN in column A and their Location in column B you can do a VLOOKUP on sheet 2 like this:
      In Sheet 2 column A enter the Part Numbers. In column B
      directly across from the first part number enter
      =VLOOKUP(A2,Sheet1!$A$2:$B$25,2,False) where A2 is the first part number for which you need a location and also
      where Sheet1 A2:B25 are the cells which contain all of the part numbers and their locations.

  39. Hi There,

    I have an excel sheet with data in 3 different columns e.g F, H,I. I have to check the data present in col F is present in col H & I respectively. Is there any formula where I can check row by match.

  40. I asked something similar in the countif section,but this may be a better place to ask. I'm looking just to get the number of matches between two columns when compared row by row. Is there any way to do this.

    1. If I understand your question, this is how to get the sum of matches in two ranges of data:
      =SUMPRODUCT(--(A39:A45=B39:B45))
      Where A39:A45 is the first range of data and where B39:B45 is the second range of data.
      So, this answers the question "What is the sum of the number of matches in these two ranges?" or put another way, "How many matches are there in this data?".

  41. Hey, I want to compare 3 columns from one sheet to 3 columns in another sheet, can anybody help?

  42. A B. C
    2/3/18. 123
    2/3/18. 123
    1/3/18. 123
    2/3/18. 124

    I want a formula in C that return any text like say "ok" if B has multiple entry of same values and in A dates are different.

    As in above 123 has 3 entries for these 3 entries column A has two dates 2/3/18 and 1/3/18, so formula should return OK as dates are different

  43. Hi,
    Below is a sample of the data I have. I want to match the data in Column A , B and C to data in Column F, G and H. If column A,B,C is not matching column F,G,H, I want to add a row and copy the data from Column A,B,C to F,G,H. For example, "880 0 1" is missing in column F,G,H, so I want to add a space and add "880 0 1" to column F,G,H so it will match column A,B,C. 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 E F G H
    880 0 0 880 0 0
    880 0 1 880 0 2
    880 0 2 880 0 3
    880 0 3 880 0 4
    880 0 4

  44. Hello,

    Please I have one column and I need to know how to highlight two duplicated value but one (+) and one (-)

    Ex.
    123
    142
    -123
    -142

    Thank you!

  45. Hello,

    I have 2 lists
    Column A has 1000 items in it
    Colum B has 500 items in it
    I'd like column C to be just a list of items that are NOT shared in either column A or B e.g. Let's say in the 1000 words in Column A - widget is there but no where in column B - I'd like the new list in column C to have the word widget in it along with all the others that are missing in the second column.

  46. Hi, Please help with a formula with this:

    I have 2 columns, one with a code (ex: XCSDADAS) and the other with URL embedded with a code. I need to compare both the columns to see if the code in column a matches with the code in the URL.

    Thank you

  47. I have 50separate bills of 50 customers in excel. I like to get each bill in another sheet with a reference at a click.Plz help me out.

  48. Hi,
    Thank you for helping in advance.
    Please assist me in the following two columns, I need to compare two columns and extract the info like "AWC+ST" "AWC+BR" "RR+ST" "RR+BR" seperately.

    Thanks & Regards.

    Col1 Col2

    RR ST
    RR ST
    RR ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    AWC ST
    RR ST
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    RR BR
    RR BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR
    RR BR
    AWC BR
    AWC BR

    1. Hi Balaji,

      I am sorry, it is not very clear what the result should look like. If you can send us a small sample workbook with your data and the result you want to get, we'll be able to help you better.
      Please shorten your table to 10-20 rows / columns and email it to support@ablebits.com. Please also don't forget to include the link to your comment in the email.

      Thank you.

  49. I want to compare column A & B in list-1 with A & B In list-2.
    I wont have duplicated data but list -1 it will not be in the the same order as list-2.
    and some date may be missing from either list. after we compare A & B we need to compare A & C and so on
    the files I want to compare to large file of data (I do this often),
    I dont want to create a new helper table on the side its hard to keep organized
    Can you just apply this idea directly to conditional formatting to spot differences?
    I do not use VBA and they dont like VBA at work.
    I have researched this to no avail.

    I use Power query and power pivot if there is any help there

    no one has a video on this

    Thanks for your time

    Kim Bilton

  50. Hello. Please can you help me.

    I have a to compare 2 sheets in the same workbook. One sheet has a full sheet of customer names (12000 rows), and the second has only a few (700). I need to check that the small sheet customers all exist in the big sheet, but there could be spelling mistakes or slight differences in writing customer names. For example, sheet 1 could have Toyota, and sheet 2 could have Toyota PTY.
    How do I check the customer names, without scrolling through a 12000 row document.
    Thanks.

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