trying to assign a person to call to a postcode (turns out to be a big problem)

Hi there,

first time poster so forgive me if i break any etiquete rules.

but i am trying to solve what i thought was goignt to be a simple vlookup query

I have a lsat of postcodes very small only for the glasgow area, and i am trying to right a small user form where a user can enter the a post code and i cans search the active worksheet and display the contact and tel number.

the issue i am having is searching the postcodes as everything i have tried runs into problems...

for example getting excelto recognise the difference between G1, and G15

and to recognise when i the difference between g1 5** and G15 ***

i have attached the sample data which hopefully will show my dilema and how simple a task it should be. and i have also searched the forums looking for my answer before i posted but didnt find anything that came clsoe to matching what i was looking for.

firstly thanks for taking an interest....
postcodes are the same as american zip codes.
some example postcodes might be G1 1AS or G1 2BD but the numbers after the first G could one or two

so you can also have G1 5DS or G15 4EQ and this is where i am having the issues getting a search to recognise when it is G! or G15 and not return the error...

This is further complicated by what you have queried

some of the stand by dont cover the whole of the first part of the postcode areas so

G1, 1 to G1, 4

G1, 5

means standby 1

can cover areas that fall under postcode
G1 1**
G1 2**
G1 3**
G1 4**

standby 2 covers the area under G1 5** and so on

You may notice that standby 1 also covers the postcode area G15 ***

i know i will probably have to alter the data im searching to reflect this.

hope this makes it easier to understand and hasnt confused the situation further.

Sorry not really expaling the postcode concept well here...

ok postcodes identify areas, the first part of a postcode before the space can be 2 - 3 characters in my case they will always begin with a G then followed by either 1 or 2 numbers.

the second part of the postcode after the space not shown on the wiki page is a further 3 characters begining with another number which further identifies the firstly the area then the street and then the section of a street the postal address is in.

for example G31 2RR or G5 8LN are two example postcodes as a user will encounter them.

the standby is not always responsible for the whole of a prefix area sometimes they are split between two as in the case with G1 G12 and G33 in my problem.

i have reatached the data with the postcode prefixs with multiple standbys split after the space. so it hopefully is a little clearer.
thanks.