Lookups but cut out all the numbers

[ammartino44]

Hello. How could I do a lookup on the following accounts but I want to ignore all the numbers and spaces. For example, in another sheet, I just have ACCRUED PTO and I want to do a vlookup on 601190 601190 5007 ACCRUED PTO. Thanks.

407200 3044 UPR-STAT SELLER COV F.R.
407300 3047 UPR-GP/ST SELLER COV F.R.
407200 3040 UPR-STAT BUYERS
601190 601190 5007 ACCRUED PTO
601150 601150 5033 WAGES OVERTIME

[slx]

Assuming the lookup column is A, insert a new column into B,
use this formula:

=If(ISERROR(FIND("ACCRUED PTO",A1)),FALSE,TRUE)

This will return TRUE if accured pto is in there. Now you can just do a vlookup on the new column

[ammartino44]

What? That makes no sense. I have a list 2000 items long. I don't want to manually write the name for every item. If anything it would involve cutting the numbers somehow.

[Xx7]

You need to include *'s for wildcards around the lookup value. See YELLOW cell attached.

=VLOOKUP("*"&E9&"*",A:B,2,0)

[ammartino44]

That's what I'm talking about!!! How does the wildcard work?