Find keyword in column B and print vaue of column E to column G not working

Hi, total beginner here...

This formula is supposed to look at whether column Bx contains the string '142', and if it does, to print the value of cell Ex in cell Gx. Except it doesn't. I thought the syntax was correct, is it not?

in column G:-
IF(B1:B871,"*142*", E1:E871)

I've attached a short example jpeg to illustrate the problem; G6 should read "0.9585"

Thanks anyone who can help!

Pictures aren't much use. I had to type in a mock-up on an Excel sheet. Your explanation didn't say whether there could be multiple results, or just one. So I assumed multiple results were possible. In MY sheet, with the search term in E1, use this array formula, copied down:

=IFERROR(INDEX($C$1:$C$10,SMALL(IF(IF(ISERROR(SEARCH($E$1,$B$1:$B$10)),FALSE,TRUE),ROW($B$1:$B$10)),ROWS($1:1))),"")


Array Formulae are a little different from ordinary formulae in that they MUST be confirmed in the FIRST CELL ONLY by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to activate the array, not just ENTER. After that, the array can be dragged down as normal, to cover the desired range.

You will know the array is active when you see curly brackets { } - or "curly braces" for those of you in the USA, or "flower brackets" for those of you in India - appear around the outside of your formula. If you do not use CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER you will (almost always) get an error message or an incorrect answer. Press F2 on that cell and try again.

Don't type the curly brackets yourself - it won't work...

next time please provide a full explanation and an excel sheet.