search within an array/table

[bob112233]

Hi,

I have a small animal database which has the animal name and the number of legs it has.

I want to create a searchable database, whereby I type the animal name (in any format eg proper, lower etc) in column A, it returns the number of legs in column B.

I know I can do this job using index and match, however how do tell the formula to ignore something when someone puts a word or leaves the cell blank.