VLOOKUP Reading Backwards?

Hi I was just wondering is there a way for the VLOOKUP function to read backwards in a table? At the moment I have had to create the same table twice but with the columns switched round to be able to get the VLOOKUP function to work properly.
The image on the left is the table_array I am looking the value up in, and the second column with L and the numbers in is the result I am getting.
excel help.PNG

The only way I have found to fix this is to create another table which has Values on the left and Letters on the right, but this looks messy and isn't very efficient, so I was wondering if there's a way for VLOOKUP or another function to find a value which is 1 column back from the value being looked up?

You can use an INDEX/MATCH combination, eg:

=INDEX(A:A,MATCH(C1,B:B,0))

where your table is in columns A and B, and you need to find where C1 matches column B.

Hope this helps.

Pete

Originally Posted by Pete_UK

You can use an INDEX/MATCH combination, eg:

=INDEX(A:A,MATCH(C1,B:B,0))

where your table is in columns A and B, and you need to find where C1 matches column B.

Hope this helps.

Pete

So are A:A and B:B the same table which the lookup value is in?

Column B is where your Values are (refering to your picture) so this is the lookup column, and column A is where the Letter occurs, so this is the value that you want to return if C1 (the lookup value) matches with column B. Next time attach an Excel workbook rather than a picture, so we can give you a formula specific to the way your data is set up.

Hope this helps.

Pete