VLOOKUP cross reference & Wildcards

Hi

I'm new to the thread but I couldn't find anything on any of the other posts regarding my specific issue.

I am trying to create a vlookup that will use another "reference database" and want that database to contain wildcards so that when the vlookup returns it can paste the value based on what it saw in the "reference database".

Ex:

column A2 of "reference database" as listed now:

A2: member of North Carolina, County: Duplin

I want to be able to input something in the reference database in the column to indicate some sort of wildcard, something like:

A2: member of North Carolina, *

or

A2: member of * (to reference anything with "member of" in the cell.

Is it possible to create wildcards in the "reference database"?

Thanks for any help in adavance

A

i'm hoping to create a spreadsheet that a vlookup will reference. I want that info to be the wildcard not the Vlookup. is that possible? I want to reference an open ended sentence.