Use string in column to find a word match in table to assign value - excel

Question

I have a lookup table of data in Sheet1 where all the names in columns A and B will be unique, so no names in either A will exist in B and vice-versa. However, some names could include special characters like a hyphen or dash such as O'neil or Jamie-lee
I have another table of data in Sheet2, in which I need to use the text string in column D to find a matching name in Sheet1 (in either column A or B) and then assign the Score value of the row on sheet1 if a match is found into Sheet2 column E.
I have entered the matched score values in column E to demonstrate the outcome I require.
I don't mind using VBA or an Excel formula that works in XL2010
Is it possible to use a text string to find a word match, as I've only seen it the other way around, or am I looking at this the wrong way? I just don't seem to be getting anywhere.
I have change the code so often now trying to get it to work, I think I'm a bit lost, but this is the current state of my code that isn't working:
Sub TextSearch()
Dim LR As Long
LR = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet1").Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
Dim xLR As Long
xLR = ThisWorkbook.Sheets("Sheet2").Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
Dim oSht As Worksheet
Dim Lastrow As Long
Dim strSearch As String, Score As String
Dim aCell As Range
Dim i As Integer
Set oSht = Sheets("Sheet1")
Lastrow = oSht.Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row
With Sheets("Sheet2")
'Loop from Lastrow to Firstrow (bottom to top)
For Lrow = xLR To 2 Step -1
'Get the value in the D column to perform search on
With .Cells(Lrow, "D")
If Not IsEmpty(.Value) Then
strSearch = .Value
Set aCell = oSht.Range("A1:B" & Lastrow).Find(What:=strSearch, LookIn:=xlValues, _
LookAt:=xlPart, SearchOrder:=xlByRows, SearchDirection:=xlNext, _
MatchCase:=False, SearchFormat:=False)
For i = 2 To Lastrow
'Lookin column A on sheet1
If oSht.Cells(i, 1).Value = aCell Then
Score = oSht.Cells(i, 1).Offset(0, 2).Value
Sheets("Sheet2").Cells(Lrow, 4).Offset(0, 1).Value = Score
'Lookin Column B on sheet1
ElseIf oSht.Cells(i, 2).Value = aCell Then
Score = oSht.Cells(i, 2).Offset(0, 1).Value
Sheets("Sheet2").Cells(Lrow, 4).Offset(0, 1).Value = Score
End If
Next i
End If
End With
Next Lrow
End With
End Sub

Answer 1

This should do what you are attempting using a dictionary. It creates keys based off of Columns A and B on Sheet 1 with their scores stored as the item.
If you have duplicate names in Sheet 1 this won't fail, but it will only match against the first name encountered. There isn't enough data for it to make a distinction that I can see.
Sub findmatches()
Dim ws1 As Worksheet
Dim ws2 As Worksheet
Dim dict As Object
Dim i As Long
Dim lr As Long
Dim name As String
Set ws1 = Worksheets("Sheet1")
Set ws2 = Worksheets("Sheet2")
Set dict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
With ws1
lr = .Cells(.Rows.Count, 1).End(xlUp).Row 'Getting last row
For i = 2 To lr
If Not dict.exists(.Cells(i, 1).Value) Then 'Checking if name is in dictionary
dict.Add .Cells(i, 1).Value, .Cells(i, 3).Value 'Adding name and score
End If
If Not dict.exists(.Cells(i, 2).Value) Then 'Checking if name is in dictionary
dict.Add .Cells(i, 2).Value, .Cells(i, 3).Value 'Adding name and score
End If
Next i
End With
With ws2
lr = .Cells(.Rows.Count, 4).End(xlUp).Row
For i = 2 To lr
name = Split(.Cells(i, 4).Value, " ")(0) 'Splitting the string into an array and taking the first element
If dict.exists(name) Then 'Checking if name is in dict
.Cells(i, 5).Value = dict(name) 'assigning score to Column 5
Else
.Cells(i, 5).Value = 0 'No name score = 0
End If
Next i
End With
End Sub

Answer 2

In Excel 365, this is possible via an (extended) array formula. Paste into E2 and copy down.
=LET(lookup,Sheet1!$C$2:$C$5,delimiter," ",string,$D2,array,Sheet1!$A$2:$B$5,data,INDEX(array,MOD(SEQUENCE(ROWS(array)*COLUMNS(array),,0),ROWS(array))+1,ROUNDUP(SEQUENCE(ROWS(array)*COLUMNS(array))/ROWS(array),0)),values,FILTERXML("<t><s>"&SUBSTITUTE(string,delimiter,"</s><s>")&"</s></t>","//s"),list,IFERROR(INDEX(lookup,1+MOD(MATCH(values,data,0)-1,ROWS(array))),0),TRANSPOSE(FILTER(list,list<>0)))
Breaking this down
=LET(lookup, Sheet1!$C$2:$C$5,
delimiter, " ",
string, $D2,
array, Sheet1!$A$2:$B$5,
data, INDEX(array,MOD(SEQUENCE(ROWS(array)*COLUMNS(array),,0),ROWS(array))+1,ROUNDUP(SEQUENCE(ROWS(array)*COLUMNS(array))/ROWS(array),0)),
values, FILTERXML("<t><s>"&SUBSTITUTE(string, delimiter,"</s><s>")&"</s></t>","//s"),
list, IFERROR(INDEX(lookup,1+MOD(MATCH(values,data,0)-1,ROWS(array))),0),
TRANSPOSE(FILTER(list, list<>0))
)
Assign:
lookup as the lookup range to take the values for the results
delimiter and string as the sentence to test and how to split it for a dynamic array
array as the data lookup array to test
data is a calculated 1D array of all values from array stacked
values is a calculated 1D array from your sentence to test
list is then an array of the row 'indices' where matches are found (mod #rows so it's column independent)
Finally, that list is filtered of any non-hits then transposed to give a spill list of all the matches from the lookup values.