The 10 Excel Formulas That Will Make You Look Like a Genius – Number 5: HLOOKUP
Excel is not just a spreadsheet tool, but a full-fledged data analysis software. Its built-in functions can handle complex tasks with ease. In our series, we’re exploring these functions one by one. Today, we’ll be looking at the HLOOKUP function.
What is HLOOKUP?
HLOOKUP, short for ‘Horizontal Lookup’, is a function in Excel that allows you to find and retrieve data from a table or range by searching for a value in the top row of a table and returning a value in the same column from a specified row.
Syntax
The syntax for HLOOKUP is as follows:
=HLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, row_index_num, [range_lookup])
Here’s what each of these terms means:
lookup_value: This is the value you’re looking for in the first row of your table.table_array: This is the table of data in which you’re looking.row_index_num: This is the number of the row in your table that contains the data you’re looking for.range_lookup: This is an optional argument that determines whether you want an exact match (FALSE) or an approximate match (TRUE).
Example
Let’s say we have the following table of products and their prices:
| Product | Price |
|---|---|
| Apples | $1.00 |
| Bananas | $0.50 |
| Cherries | $2.00 |
If we wanted to find the price of Bananas, we would use the following formula:
=HLOOKUP("Bananas", A1:B3, 2, FALSE)
This would return $0.50, the price of Bananas.
Conclusion
HLOOKUP is a powerful tool for horizontally oriented data. It takes a bit of practice, but once you master it, you’ll be able to streamline your data analysis and reporting tasks!
