Sorting and finding duplicates in excel columns - excel

I have five columns in my spreadsheet, three of which are filled with assorted names( the first, fourth and fifth columns).
I need a way to cross-reference each cell in the A column with the D and E columns, then have an output that answers the question in the B and C column (which you can see as the Xs), as to whether it was found. I've tried a combination of VLOOKUP and MATCH, but this is proving to be out of my realm. I haven't used excel much lately.
EDIT: Added a picture instead of a diagram

In Cell B3 use =IF(COUNTIFS(D:D,A:A),"","X")
and in C3 use =IF(COUNTIFS(D:D,A:A),"","X")
copy down as far as required
Formula says "If count of names in D:D equal to name in current row in A:A is > 0 then return blank, else return "X"
Test is case-insensitive.

Related

MS Excel: Duplicate a cell in the same sheet, if the cell contains text

I am running into an issue in Excel when trying to create an automated spreadsheet. I have most of the data ready to go already, but this one thing is giving me some serious trouble.
I am trying to create a data tracking file. Most data will be entered manually, in which I will have certain data to be tracked (column A) and criteria to track that data for (row 1). The data to be tracked will always be the same, but the criteria will be changed depending on the needed numbers. The same sheet will contain multiple sets of this one table to track the same data over different time periods.
I would like to make entering the criteria for all tables easier, by having Excel automatically copy the contents of row 1 into the header rows of the other tables if data is present in row 1. If a cell is blank in row 1, I would like the corresponding cells in the other tables to also be blank.
I thought there was a way to do that, but I can't remember how. Also, I would like to achieve this without using macros.
I have been searching here and elsewhere online, but all I could find were ways to display pre-determined text or values, if a cell contains specific text, i.e. "if cell x contains apple, return TRUE in cell y" or "if cell x contains apple, sum value of cell y in cell z".
Example:
IF B1 =/= empty THEN B14=B1; IF B1=empty THEN B14=empty
Right now the only option I found was the formula =B1 in B14, but that returns a 0 if B1 does not contain anything, I would like to have B14 empty though in that case.
Is what I am trying to do at all possible, or am I remembering this wrong?
Any help would be really appreciated.
Try the following formula in cell B14:
=IF(B1<>"",B14,"")
The "" in the formula represents blank while <> represents 'is not equal to'. So IF B1 'is not equal to blank', THEN return B14. Otherwise (IF B1 'is equal to blank'), return blank.
You can as well reverse the TRUE/FALSE values of the IF by using:
=IF(B1="","",B14)

How to compare each cell with each other in MS Excel?

In large dataset - 250 rows and 1000 columns I need to compare each value in cell with each other in one column and iterate over all column. Heres simplified example of source data:
And this is what I need (formatting not necessary and 2 empty rows not necessary) - if match if found "1" is produced, if no match "2" is produced, if one or both were N/A - "3" is produced:
Comparison should only be "one sided" for example Terry and Joey is the same as Joey and Terry, thus further comparison of already compared pairs is not needed.
Is it possible to do this in Excel 2016 or are there better tools for this?
My thanks to all.
This alternative is a bit complex, but we all solve problems like this differently. If it helps you, please feel free to use it. If not, I can understand since some of these techniques are not particularly common and the resulting formula is a bit unreadable. I did it this way so that I would be able to organize the rows better and read the matching/unmatching indicators more easily. I started by creating a helper column rather than repeat the rows for each individual so that each row shows the two names being compared. This is the formula I used to compare using B8's information is:
=IF(OR(INDIRECT("R"&MATCH($I8,$A$1:$A$6,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)="N/A",INDIRECT("R"&MATCH($A8,$A$1:$A$6,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)="N/A"),3,IF(INDIRECT("R"&MATCH($I8,$A$1:$A$6,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)<>INDIRECT("R"&MATCH($A8,$A$1:$A$6,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE),2,1))
I am going to try to explain the formula I used as follows:
Without using the helper column, the basic formula for cell B8 is this:
=IF(OR(B$2="N/A",B3="N/A"),3,IF(B$2<>B3,2,1))
and this would work for the range B8:H11. However, when I skip down to B13, the formula would need to change to:
=IF(OR(B$3="N/A",B4="N/A"),3,IF(B$3<>B4,2,1))
and this would work for the range B13:H15. Likewise B17, and B20 would be:
=IF(OR(B$4="N/A",B5="N/A"),3,IF(B$4<>B5,2,1))
=IF(OR(B$5="N/A",B6="N/A"),3,IF(B$5<>B6,2,1))
for their respective ranges. I shy away from formulas where I have to remember what I need to change for each section (heaven forbid I should write any notes or read them if I did).
In order to do this, I used the person column (A) and my helper column (I) to determine which rows to compare.
MATCH($I8,$A$1:$A$6,0)
gives the row of the person value in the Chart from A1:H6 in the comparison
MATCH($A8,$A$1:$A$6,0)
gives the row of the helper value in the Chart from A1:H6 in the comparison
Since the data being compared is always in the same column, I just use COLUMN() to determine which column to use.
In cell B8, MATCH($I8,$A$1:$A$6,0) will tell me it is row 2 and MATCH($A8,$A$1:$A$6,0) will tell me it is row 3. Thus, I want to use the values in Row 2, Column 2 compared against Row 3, Column 2.
To tell Excel to compare Row 2, Column 2 against Row 3, Column 2 is fairly simple, but creating a formula that you can copy from cell to cell without having to modify it each time is not as easy, since each section is a bit different and there could be blank rows in between sections. What I did was to use indirect cell notation using "R1C1" syntax rather than the more common "A1" cell referencing.
In other words in column B8 this:
INDIRECT("R"&MATCH($I8,$A$1:$A$6,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)
gives the value in Row 2 (for Terry), Column 2 and
INDIRECT("R"&MATCH($A8,$A$1:$A$6,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)
gives the value in Row 3 (for Joey), Column 2 and
In both of the above, I am concatenating and R and a C to the numbers returned by the MATCH() and COLUMN() functions and using the FALSE parameter to tell Excel to treat the concatenated result as "R1C1" notation. In other words, this:
OR(INDIRECT("R"&MATCH($I8,$A$1:$A$6,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)="N/A",INDIRECT("R"&MATCH($A8,$A$1:$A$6,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)="N/A")
translates to this:
OR(R2C2="N/A",R3C2="N/A")
I realize that the helper column is a burden you did not ask for and I realize that the formula is overly complicated, but I can freely copy this formula to any column that has the two names and it will do a comparison for that day of the week.
Here is a picture of what I am describing:
Added comments
Just to carry the above a bit further, suppose you had a Sheet1 which had the rows of data to be compared and suppose this were limited to 250 rows with the same 7 columns (rather than 1000). I could create another sheet similar to the above along with another helper cell (I put it in A1) to automatically populate the person column and the helper column like this:
New Helper Cell value: 1 (essentially saying to start at the top). This would populate Cell A2 with the following formula:
=IFERROR(IF(INDEX(Sheet1!$A$1:$A$250,NUMBERVALUE(RIGHT($A$1,3)+ROW()))=0,"",INDEX(Sheet1!$A$1:$A$250,NUMBERVALUE(RIGHT($A$1,3)+ROW()))),"")
Basically this is just this formula:
=INDEX(Sheet1!$A$1:$A$250,NUMBERVALUE(RIGHT($A$1,3)+ROW()))
but is checking first to see if it results in zero and then is replacing it with blanks if it is an error. Copying this cell down Column A will populate that column with the names starting at the first row after the data row specified by A. If you have more headings or other data you would need to add additional amountst to the +ROW() portion in both occurrences in the formula. Column I gets populated siimilarly with this:
=IF(A2="","",INDEX(Sheet1!$A$1:$A$250,NUMBERVALUE(LEFT($A$1,3)+1)))
However, this value does not vary from row to row.
Now that the helper columns are populated, you can populate the formula a bit differently from the above (which had used the same sheet) for example in B2:
=IF($A2="","",IF(OR(INDIRECT("Sheet1!R"&MATCH($I2,Sheet1!$A$1:$A$250,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)="N/A",INDIRECT("Sheet1!R"&MATCH($A2,Sheet1!$A$1:$A$250,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)="N/A"),3,IF(INDIRECT("Sheet1!R"&MATCH($I2,Sheet1!$A$1:$A$250,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE)<>INDIRECT("Sheet1!R"&MATCH($A2,Sheet1!$A$1:$A$250,0)&"C"&COLUMN(),FALSE),2,1)))
The main difference from the first formula is the off sheet references to "Sheet1" that were added and the extension of the formula to cover 250 rows.
Here is a picture with Cell A1 set to 1:
Here is a picture with Cell A1 set to 3:
Using this, your Sheet1 values remain where they are and you can create a generic comparison sheet to compare the values of various rows of Sheet1. These can be dynamically built by changing the value in A1 or you can create dozens of similar sheets, each differing by the value in A1.
Not sure if any of this makes sense.
Good Luck
Just use a function like this(exemple for cell B4):
=IF(B3=B2;1;IF(B3="N/A";3;2))
Print of it working
Do it for each line and just drag it from the begining to the end.
EDIT: You should do an or in the 2nd if to make surre neither is "N/A"
=IF(OR(B3="N/A";B2="N/A";3;IF(B3=B2);1;2))

Excel - See if cells in one column contain text from another

Currently I am using the below to see if cells in column B exist in Column A...
=IF(ISERROR(MATCH(B1,A:A,0)),"False","True")
... However I've just realised the need to not check for an exact match, but rather if the cells in column B contain text that appear in any of the cells in column A.
For example, if a cell in column B contains "TIC081_CL1" then I could return "true" if column A contains a cell with only "TIC081"...
Can anyone help me with this please, as my current working only works for eact matches. Many thanks for any assistance!!!
Since it is guaranteed that there will be an underscore "_" separating the values you are searching for we only need to check 2 distinct conditions:
If the entire value B1 is found within A:A
If the value before the _ is found within A:A
We can accomplish that by using an additional MATCH derived from your original formula:
=IF(ISERROR(MATCH(MID(B1,1,FIND("_",B1)-1),A:A,0)),IF(ISERROR(MATCH(B1,A:A,0)),"False","True"),"True")
You can alternatively do this using 2 COUNTIF formulas:
=IF(COUNTIF(A:A,B1)+COUNTIF(A:A,MID(B1,1,FIND("_",B1)-1))>0,"True","False")

Excel: Find intersection of a row and a column

My question is how can I find an intersecting cell of a specific column and row number?
My situation is this: with some calculations I find two cells, lets say B6 and E1. I know that I need a row of the first one and a column of the second one. So I could just use ROW and COLUMN functions to get the numbers. After that, I need to find an intersecting cell. Which would be E6 in this example.
I would just use INDEX(A1:Z100;ROW;COLUMN) but I don't know the exact area that I'm going to need - it depends on other stuff. I could use something like A1:XFG65000 but that is way too lame. I could also use a combination of INDIRECT(ADDRESS()) but I'm pulling data from a closed workbook so INDIRECT will not work.
If this would help to know what is this all for - here's a concrete example:
I need to find limits of a section of a sheet that I would work with. I know that it starts from the column B and goes all the way down to the last non-empty cell in this column. This range ends with a last column that has any value in first row. So to define it - I need to find the intersection of this last column and the last row with values in B column.
I use this array formula to find the last column:
INDEX(1:1;MAX((1:1<>"")*(COLUMN(1:1))))
And this array formula to find the last row:
INDEX(B:B;MAX((B:B<>"")*(ROW(B:B)))
Last column results in E1 and last row results in B6. Now I need to define my range as B1:E6, how can I get E6 out of this all to put into the resulting formula? I've been thinking for a while now and not being and Excel expert - I couldn't come up with anything. So any help would really be appreciated. Thanks!
You can use an Index/Match combination and use the Match to find the relevant cell. Use one Match() for the row and one Match() for the column.
The index/match function to find the last cell in a sheet where
column B is the leftmost table column
row 1 is the topmost table row
data in column B and in row 1 can be a mix of text and numbers
there can be empty cells in column B and row 1
the last populated cell in column B marks the last row of the table
the last populated cell in row 1 marks the last column of the table
With these premises, the following will return correct results, used in a Sum() with A1 as the starting cell and Index to return the lower right cell of the range:
=SUM(A1:INDEX(1:1048576,MAX(IFERROR(MATCH(99^99,B:B,1),0),IFERROR(MATCH("zzzz",B:B,1),0)),MAX(IFERROR(MATCH(99^99,1:1,1),0),IFERROR(MATCH("zzzz",1:1,1),0))))
Since you seem to be on a system with the semicolon as the list delimiter, here is the formula with semicolons:
=SUM(A1:INDEX(1:1048576;MAX(IFERROR(MATCH(99^99;B:B;1);0);IFERROR(MATCH("zzzz";B:B;1);0));MAX(IFERROR(MATCH(99^99;1:1;1);0);IFERROR(MATCH("zzzz";1:1;1);0))))
Offset would seem to be the way to go
=OFFSET($A$1,ROW(CELL1)-1,COLUMN(CELL2)-1)
(The -1 is needed because we already have 1 column and 1 row in A1)
in your example, =OFFSET($A$1,ROW(B6)-1,COLUMN(E1)-1) would give the value in E6
There is also ADDRESSS if you want the location: =ADDRESS(ROW(B6),COLUMN(E1)) gives the answer $E$6
The following webpage has a much easier solution, and it seems to work.
https://trumpexcel.com/intersect-operator-in-excel/
For example, in a cell, type simply: =C:C 6:6. Be sure to include one space between the column designation and the row designation. The result in your cell will be the value of cell C6. Of course, you can use more limited ranges, such as =C2:C13 B5:D5 (as shown on the webpage).
As I was searching for the answer to the same basic question, it astounded me that there is no INTERSECT worksheet function in Excel. There is an INTERSECT feature in VBA (I think), but not a worksheet function.
Anyway, the simple spacing method shown above seems to work, at least in straightforward cases.

Count values in groups

I have a table with student IDs separated in groups. I need a handy way to count the total number of students in each group and populate it after the last row of each group (marked with ??)
Currently I just enter =COUNT() and then manually figure out the top and bottom borders of the range for each group. Not convenient at all.
I was thinking that a possible solution could be one of the following:
A some kind of pivot table permutation. I failed on this one.
Excel Data->Outline->Subtotals functions. Again, fail. It keeps creating new rows in my table.
A universal formula that can be pasted into each ?? cell. Not the most graceful solution, but still would do.
A macro. As a last remedy if nothing else works.
The following steps will calculate the subtotals while preserving the structuring and formatting of your worksheet.
Put this formula in cell C1 and copy the formula down the column:
=IF(NOT(ISERROR(SEARCH("Total",A1))),COUNTA(INDIRECT("B"&MATCH(LEFT(A1,LEN(A1)-7),A:A,0)+1&".B"&(MATCH(A1,A:A,0)+1))),IF(B1="","",B1))
Apply a conditional format to cell C1 with the formula rule =(MOD(ROW(C1),2)=0) and blue fill to match the shading on the other rows. Copy the format down the column using Paste Special Format.
Either hide column B, or copy the values in column C to column B using Paste Special Values and hide Column C. If you decide to copy the values to column B, you won't need to set the conditional formats.
Here is what the formula does:
First, check whether the formula's row is a Total row, by searching the cell in column A of the row for the word "Total," using the SEARCH function.
If the word "Total" is found:
Determine the range in the worksheet of the student IDs for the group for that total row:
a) Identify the rows in which the words "GroupX" and "GroupX Total" are found by using the MATCH function. With that, you know that the IDs for the group are in a range that starts at, say, row x and ends at row y.
b) With the starting and ending row numbers, construct the address range in which the IDs lie, which has to be the string "B" + (row x) + "." + "B" + (row y).
c) Turn the string into a range reference that can actually used in a formula using the INDIRECT function.
Count the number of students in the group using the COUNTA function and the range, and show that as the formula's result.
If the word "Total" is not found
Check whether the cell in column B is empty
a) If it is empty, show a blank as the formula's result
b) if it is not empty, it must be a student ID, so show the ID as the formula's result.
Add a column (I usually add it to the LEFT of the existing matrix) where you enter a formula from row 2 onwards that fills the blanks in the old column A. Then the old matrix including your new column can be used in a pivot.
So Insert a column left of your matrix, this is column A now. Put a header in Cell A1, for example "Group Name1"
Enter the following formula in cell B2 and extend it to the end:
=IF(B2="",A1,B2) This way your blanks will be filled.
Now apply a pivot on this matrix and there you are.
Maybe not the nicest looking solution, but its quick and works well.
If u have table like this
Students id Name of students group ........
then u can use countif/countifs formula

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