Index Match result when changing match criteria - excel-formula

Question

I am trying to return an input value in a row (specific cell) where an input date in the same row as the input value matches the date on the top row.
From this forum and other research I determined that the index match function is a better option than vlookup.
I realized that the index function is using a column reference to return a value from and for this reason the index match function return the result of the associated row number related to the match criteria column number.
The function looks like this: =IF($E$3=$G$2:$L$2,INDEX($D:$D,MATCH($E$3,$G$2:$L$2,1)))
What would be the alternative to using the "Index" function because I want to return the row specific value where the match takes place?

Answer 1

If I understand your question correctly, you want to return "yes" in cell L3 because cell L2 has the same date as D3 and cell L1 has the number 6 and the 6th cell in column D is "yes".
Start by trying to find the date of D3 in G2:L2:
=match($D$3,$G$2:$L$2,0)
with 0 as the last parameter for an exact match, and the range does not need to be sorted. To return the value from row 1, you need to wrap this in an Index like
=index($G$1:$L$1,match($D$3,$G$2:$L$2,0))
That will return your 6. So now you can look at column D and use Index with the number returned by the formula above.
=index($D:$D,index($G$1:$L$1,match($D$3,$G$2:$L$2,0)))
Finally, you only want to perform this if the date in D3 is present in G2:L2. There are several ways to do this, for example using Countif
=if(countif($G$2:$L$2,$D$3),index($D:$D,index($G$1:$L$1,match($D$3,$G$2:$L$2,0))),"")
I don't even have to compare the result of Countif with anything, because if the count is 0 that is the same as FALSE and if the count is greater than zero, that is the same as TRUE.
Let me know if that helps or if you need more clarification.
Edit after comments
You may be overthinking this. I think the formula you want is this one, entered into cell G3 and copied across and down.
=IF(G$2=$D3,$C3,0)
In Words: if the date in column D of the current row is the same as the date in row 2 of the current column, then get the value from column C in the current row, otherwise return 0.