formula lookup search

Any possibility you could upload a small sample worksheet so we can see what’s in U4 and E6 and a sample of the data you were searching on?

Sam's right, without a workbook and/or further explanation, this is complete guesswork . . .
Assuming this formula is in U6, copied across and down???, try:
=IF($E6=U$4,$H6,"")

If that works, then the original formula could have been:
=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(U$4,$E6)),$H6,"")

So you say you need an exact match U4 and E6 cells, a search formula will find a value within another cell so it could be some word that is in the middle of a sentence.
When you say exact match it makes me think you want to find only one word or value that matches the entire contents of a different range.
So perhaps a search function isn't what would be the most efficient, maybe an if and countif or sumproduct or a vlookup or some other formula would better suit.
That is why a sample workbook with enough samples that represent your data AND expected results would be helpful.

Happy to help. If that concludes your thread, please go to Thread Tools just above your first post and mark it as SOLVED. Thanks - Lee