Finding Contained Text within Multi-Faceted Formula

**Nuggetross** · 12-23-2012, 01:02 AM

I am trying to pull specific data from a large data set. I am currently using a index/small/row function with multiple if statements. However, this is only giving me exact matches. For instance, if I am looking for "Aerospace" in cell A2, my current formula does not return a value with "Aerospace,Alcoholic Beverages" or any other non-exact match. Here is my formula that returns exact matches only:

{=IF(AND(OR($A$2<>"-",$B$2<>"-"),OR($A$2<>"-",$C$2<>"-"),OR($B$2<>"-",$C$2<>"-"),OR($A$2<>"-",$B$2<>"-",$C$2<>"-")),">1 Ind",IF(AND($A$2="-",$B$2="-",$C$2="-"),"Ind?",IF($A$2<>"-",INDEX('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000,SMALL(IF('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000=$A$2,ROW('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000)),ROW(1:1)),1),IF($B$2<>"-",INDEX('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000,SMALL(IF('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000=$B$2,ROW('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000)),ROW(1:1)),1),INDEX('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000,SMALL(IF('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000=$C$2,ROW('Q4 ''11'!$A$1:$H$10000)),ROW(1:1)),1)))))}

The A2 - C2 references are drop-down menus. My version of Excel doesn't allow for the number of drop down menus that I need. That's why I need the if statements.

I have a few formulas on hand to find non-exact matches, but I can't seem to integrate them. Hopefully, this will make an answer more readily available:

IF(--(COUNTIF('xxx'!J23,"*yyy.com/user*")>0)=1
IFERROR(FIND($D$1,A1),0)>0
IF(FIND($A$2,'Q4 ''11'!$H2)=1,$A$2,0)

Any help is appreciated.

**FDibbins** · 12-23-2012, 01:04 AM

Nuggetross, welcome to the forum

To best describe or illustrate your problem you would be better off attaching a dummy workbook. The workbook should contain the same structure and some dummy data of the same type as the type you have in your real workbook - so, if a cell contains numbers & letters in this format abc-123 then that should be reflected in the dummy workbook.

To attach a file to your post,
click advanced (next to quick post),
scroll down until you see "manage file",
click that and select "add files" (top right corner).
click "select files" find your file, click "open" click "upload" click 'done" bottom right. click "submit reply"

Once the upload is completed the file name will appear below the input boxes in this window.
You can then close the window to return to the new post screen.

**Nuggetross** · 12-23-2012, 01:26 AM

FDibbins and others, please see the attachment.

**DonkeyOte** · 12-23-2012, 03:08 AM

If I have understood - perhaps you could modify to something along the lines of the below ?

Formula:

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The use of pre-emptive "n/a" is to simply avoid calculating Array unnecessarily as it is inefficient to do so.

To further improve performance you might consider using

a) dynamic (non-volatile) named ranges
b) couple of helper cells to store repetitive calcs

**Nuggetross** · 03-26-2013, 04:49 PM

This has worked great! One question, however. How would I include dynamic ranges with these formulas? Specifically, I am talking about Column D in Sheet2 of the file above. This is the current formula:

{=IF($L4="N/A","N/A",IFERROR(CHOOSE(COUNTIF($B$2:$D$2,"-")+1,{1,2,3,4},"Ind?",INDEX('Q4 ''12'!$A:$A,SMALL(IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(SUBSTITUTE($B$2&$C$2&$D$2,"-",""),'Q4 ''12'!$H$2:$H$10000)),ROW('Q4 ''12'!$A$2:$A$10000)),ROWS(L$3:L5))),"<1 Ind",">1 Ind"),"N/A"))}

When I replace 'Q4 ''12'!$A$2:$A$10000 with a dynamic range defined as: =OFFSET('Q4 ''12'!$A$2,0,0,MATCH("*",'Q4 ''12'!$A:$A,-1),1)
...and when I replace 'Q4 ''12'!$H$2:$H$10000 with a dynamic range defined as: =OFFSET('Q4 ''12'!$H$2,0,0,MATCH("*",'Q4 ''12'!$H:$H,-1),1)
...this causes the formula to work in D3 but not in any of the subsequent rows. The formula is not finding the next solution, but keeps repeating the same one over and over.