Offset function returns #VALUE! with small dataset - excel

I have some data in excel and want to access certain rows with the offset function, however the function returns #VALUE! for my small dataset.
Using this, OFFSET(A2;0;0;COUNTA(A2:A99999);1) I get #VALUE!. When changing the formula to OFFSET(A2;0;0;100;1) I get a value.
Any suggestions, what I am doing wrong?
I appreciate your replies!

If =OFFSET(A2;0;0;COUNTA(A2:A99999);1) is your full formula you are getting a result with a hard-coded number due to Inferred Position (I hope that's the right term). This means that when you are referencing a range but are not processing the full range the operative cell is the one relative to the current position.
If you put =$A$2:$A$11 in D2 and fill down you will get processive results according to your row position that match column A. Keep filling down and you will get the #VALUE! error when you go past row 11.
This is why =OFFSET(A2; 0; 0; 100; 1) returns a zero and =OFFSET(A2; 0; 0; COUNTA(A2:A99999); 1) returns a #VALUE! error. The first formula is the same as saying =$A$2:$A$101 and it is returning zero because you put the formula in a cell that was above row 101 (referencing a blank cell in column A that returned a value of 0). The second (with the COUNTA function) is like saying =$A$2:$A$11 and you are putting it into a cell in row 13 (below row 11).
Addndum:
On a related note, these variations of the INDEX function and MATCH function are non-volatile and more functional than the OFFSET function while providing a cell range reference identical to what you were achieving with OFFSET and the COUNTA function.
'for text in a column
=$A$2:INDEX($A:$A, MATCH("zzz", $A:$A))
'for numbers in a column
=$A$2:INDEX($A:$A, MATCH(1e99, $A:$A))
'for unknown in a column
=$A$2:INDEX($A:$A, IFERROR(MATCH(1e99, $A:$A), MATCH("zzz", $A:$A)))
'for combined in a column
=$A$2:INDEX($A:$A, MAX(MATCH(1e99, $A:$A), MATCH("zzz", $A:$A)))
'I don't like COUNTA but it works as long as there are no blanks
=$A$2:INDEX($A:$A, COUNTA($A:$A))
There are many variations on this method. Perhaps you can use one of the above for your purposes.

OFFSET(A2;0;0;(range > 1);1) will return an array rather than the value of a single cell. This only makes sense if you put sum or some other aggregate function around it. (What are you trying to achieve with the formula?)
e.g.
=SUM(OFFSET(A2;0;0;COUNTA(A2:A99999);1))

Related

How to compare one cell with a range and if TRUE - copycontent from the right cell?

I need to compare two columns I and L and copy matched result from M column. It is a list of 1000+ product codes (I,L) and EAN codes (M). So if cell I1 is found in range of L1:L1000 (lets say it found in L3 cell), then formula should copy the M3 cell.
Tried VLOOKUP and MATCH and some IF, but cannot figure it out how to make it work as it returns blank or REF! or N/A or errors-out completely. I'm desperate and don't know what i'm doing wrong...
=VLOOKUP(I1:I1164,L1:L1164,13,FALSE)
and with
=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(I1,L1:L1000),M1," "")
Result should be in N column.
When using VLOOKUP, you need the lookup range to include both the range of values you're looking for (which MUST to be the first column) and the return values (whose column you specify as relative to the range. So in your case, you'll be looking up in L1:M1164 and using column 2 as return results (since column M is the second of L1:M1164).
Also, the value you're looking for will probably be just an item, relative to the current line. I'd thus try it that way (in N1):
=VLOOKUP(I1;$L$1:$M$1164;2;FALSE)
Wrapping it up in an IFERROR as suggested in SJR's answer might be a good idea too.
Try this
=iferror(index(m1:m1000,match(i1,l1:l1000,0)),"")
The match bit returns 3, the index bit then looks for the 3rd value in column M; the Iferror returns an empty string in the event of an error (i1 is not found).

Excel Index to look up multiple values

I have a small data set of 2 columns and several rows (columns A and B)
I want to return each instance of codeblk 3 in a formula that is elsewhere in my sheet, (so a vlookup is out as it only shows the first instance) if it does not appear then a message to say its not there should come up.
I have the formula partially working but i cant see the reason why its not displaying the values.
My formula is as below:
This is an array
{=IF(ISERROR(INDEX($A$55:$B$70,SMALL(IF($B$55:$B$70=3,ROW($B$55:$B$70)),ROW(1:1))-1,1)),"No value's produced",INDEX($A$2:$C$7,SMALL(IF($B$55:$B$70=3,ROW($B$55:$B$70)),ROW(1:1))-1,1))}
The result that shows up is only "No values produced" but it should reflect statement B, C and D in 3 separate cells (when changing ROW(1:1), ROW(2:2) etc)
{=SMALL(IF($B$56:$B$69=4,ROW($B$56:$B$69)),ROW(1:1))} - This produces the result 68 which is the correct row.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
This is an array formula - Validate the formula with Ctrl+Shift+Enter while still in the formula bar
=IFERROR(INDEX($A$55:$B$70,SMALL(IF($B$55:$B$70=3,ROW($B$55:$B$70)-54),ROW(1:1)),1),"No value's produced")
The issue you are facing is that your index starts it's first row on $B$55, you need to offset the row numbers in the array to reflect this. For example, the INDEX contains 16 rows but if you had a match on the first row you are asking for the 55th row from that INDEX(), it just can't fulfil that.
EDIT
The offset was out of sync as your original formula included another -1 outside of the IF(), I also left an additional bracket in play (the formula above has now been edited)
The ROW() function will essentially translate $B$55:$B$70 into ROW(55:70) which will produce the array {55;56;57;58;59;60;61;62;63;64;65;66;67;68;69;70} so the offset is needed to translate those row numbers in to the position they represent in the indexed data of INDEX().
The other IF() statement then produces and array of {FALSE;2;3;4;FALSE etc.
You can see these results by highlighting parts of the formula in the formula bar and hitting F9 to calculate.

Excel formula reference cell above last cell in range

I'm trying to set up a formula to automatically calculate the % change between the most recently added cell in a range (which includes #N/A values at the bottom of the range) and the cell immediately above it. I've been using this formula to obtain the value of the bottom not #N/A cell:
LOOKUP(2, 1/NOT(ISNA(G8:G19)), G8:G19)
Which is working fine. My first thought on how to reach the cell above it was to use OFFSET, like so:
OFFSET(LOOKUP(2, 1/NOT(ISNA(G8:G19)), G8:G19), -1, 0)
but this gives me an error, I think because the lookup function is returning the value in the cell rather than the cell reference. How should I format a function to return the value of the cell above the last non-N/A cell in a range?
Try this alternative for seeking the last non-error, numerical value in column G.
=index(G:G, match(1e99, G:G))/index(G:G, match(1e99, G:G)-1)
Using MATCH to find the last number in a column returns the row number to INDEX. It is a simple matter to subtract 1 from a row number.
One method is to use this array formula:
=INDEX($G$8:$G$19,MATCH(2,IF(NOT(ISNA($G$8:$G$19)),1))-1)
Being an array formula it must be confirmed with Ctrl-Shift-Enter on exiting edit mode instead of enter. If done properly then Excel will put {} around the formula.

How and why is ROW(A1) used in these nested INDEX, MATCH and SMALL function formulas

In the following nested functions formulas, I do not understand why ROW(A1) is used or why it even works. Please refer to the picture and the 2 nested function formulas below. These nested functions produce the Category and Time Spent data on the right side of the picture using the data on the left side. The formula in the 'H' column returns the category title/description and the formula in the 'I' column returns the total time spent. These are ordered from smallest to highest "Time Spent" values.
From the inner most function of the nest, the small function returns the ROW(A1)th smallest number in the array of total time spent cells. The match function, I believe, then returns the column letter of where that value was found. The index function then displays the value in the column value returned by the match function and in the row specified by the array of cells. When you copy this nested function into each successive row, it increments the "A1" to "A2", "A3" and so on.
I thought the ROW function just returned the row number of a referenced cell and if that reference is left out, it defaults to the cell address that contains the ROW function. So why does ROW(A1) work here to change to the next nth smallest number to be found by the SMALL function in each successful row and formula???
H3 =INDEX($B$3:$F$3,MATCH(SMALL($B$2:$F$2,ROW(A1)),$B$2:$F$2,0))
I3 =INDEX($B$2:$F$2,MATCH(SMALL($B$2:$F$2,ROW(A1)),$B$2:$F$2,0))
Thanks!
VH
It's simply referring to the position in the named array in the small function. You are indicating position 1, first smallest.
First, look at what the formula resolves to on its own:
=ROW(A1)
This becomes simply 1. When used in a formula intended to be 'dragged down', the relative reference on A1 means that A1 will become A2, A3, and so on. On the 4th time that this is used, it will be:
=ROW(A4)
This resolves to 4. This is a common method to 'iterate' the number in a formula (increase in value by 1, for each new time the formula is used). Then, look at the SMALL function:
=SMALL($B$2:$F$2,4)
This gives you the 4th smallest number in the checked portion of row 2. Because the $'s are present, these references do not change as the formula is dragged down.
It seems you understand the remainder of that formula, but as you can now see, the SMALL function now adequately finds the smallest number in row 2, then the 2nd smallest number, etc.

Is there a 2 Value Look up function in MS Excel that can perform the following?

I am going crazy over this. It seems so simple yet I can't figure this out. I have two worksheets. First worksheet is my data. Second is like an answer key. Upon checking checking, A1:B1 in Sheet 1 is a match with the conditions in Row 52 in SHEET 2, therefore, the value in Column C is "MGC". What is the formula that will perform this function? It's really hard to explain without the data so I pasted a link of the sample spreadsheet. Thank you so much in advance.
sample spreadsheet here. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_AjuNfCdGfEM-XkqPa6W4hSIxQg4NM2Vg4c2C1pQ_vQ/edit?usp=sharing
screenshot here. (wont let me post i have no reputation)
In Sheet2, insert a column in front of Column A and put the formula in A2 =C2&D2.
Then in Sheet1, Cell C2 the formula =vlookup(A2&B2,Sheet2!A:B,2,0).
the first make a concatenated key to lookup, then the second looks up that key.
How about a index(match())? If I've understood correctly you need to match across both the A and B column in sheet one, checking for the relevant values in B and C on sheet 2 to retrun worksheet 2 column a to worksheet 1 column c.
third version try:
=INDEX(Sheet2!$C$1:$C$360,MATCH(Sheet1!A1&Sheet1!B1,Sheet2!$B$1:$B$360&Sheet2!$C$1:$C$360,0))
Basically what this does is use concatenation, the & operator, to specify you are looking for "Criteria A" & "Criteria B" in sheet 1, which makes the string "Criteria A Criteria B", which is supplied in the first part of the match function.
In the second it then says match this against all of my variables in sheet 2 in the same way with concantenation.
The final part of match function (0) specifies you want an 'exact' match
It then supplied this as a reference to the index function, which then finds the row intersecting with the value you want, and returns that.
As noted here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/59482 this is an array formula, so it behaves differently, and must be input differently. https://support.office.com/en-za/article/Guidelines-and-examples-of-array-formulas-7d94a64e-3ff3-4686-9372-ecfd5caa57c7
There are (at least) 2 ways you could do this without VBA.
USING A SORTED LIST
The first relies on the assumption that your data can be re-sorted, so that everything "Unreported" is in the top, and everything "reported" is together below that (or vice versa). Assuming that this is the case (and it appears to already be sorted like this),we will use the function OFFSET to create a new range which shows only the values that align with either being "Unreported" or "Reported".
Offset takes a given reference to a point on a sheet, and then moves down/up & left/right to see what reference you want to return. Then, it returns a range of cells of a given height, and a given width. Here, we will want to start on Sheet2 at the top left, moving down until we find the term "Unreported" or "Reported". Once that term is found, we will want to move one column to the right (to pull column B from sheet 2), and then have a 'height' of as many rows as there are "unreported" or "reported" cells. This will look as follows in A1 on sheet 1, copied down:
=OFFSET(Sheet2!$A$1,MATCH(A1,Sheet2!A:A,0)-1,1,COUNTIF(Sheet2!A:A,A1),1)
This says: First, start at cell A1 on sheet2. Then find the term in A1 (either "unreported" or "reported", on sheet2!A:A (we subtract 1 because OFFSET starts at A1 - so if your data starts at A1 we need to actually stay at "0". If you have headers on sheet2, you will not need this -1). Then, move 1 column to the right. Go down the rows for as many times as Sheet2 column A has the term found in Sheet1 A1. Stay 1 column wide. Together, this will leave you with a single range on sheet2, showing column B for the entire length that column A matches your term in sheet1 A1.
Now we need to take that OFFSET, and use it to find out when the term in Sheet1 B1 is matched in Sheet2 column B. This will work as follows:
=MATCH(B1,[FORMULA ABOVE],0)
This shows the number of rows down, starting at the special OFFSET array created above, that the term from B1 is matched in column B from sheet2. To use this information to pull the result from column C on sheet 2, we can use the INDEX function, like so:
=INDEX([FORMULA ABOVE],MATCH(B1,[FORMULA ABOVE],0))
Because this would be fairly convoluted to have in a single cell, we can simplify this by using VLOOKUP, which will only require the OFFSET function to be entered a single time. This will work as follows:
=VLOOKUP(B1,[FORMULA ABOVE],2,0)
This takes the OFFSET formula above, finds the matching term in B1, and moves to the 2nd column to get the value from column C in sheet2. Because we are going to use VLOOKUP, the offset formula above will need to be adjusted to provide 2 columns of data instead of 1. Together, this will look as follows:
FINAL FORMULA FOR SHEET1, C1 & COPIED DOWN
=VLOOKUP(B1,OFFSET(Sheet2!$A$1,MATCH(A1,Sheet2!A:A,0)-1,1,COUNTIF(Sheet2!A:A,A1),2),2,0)
OPTION USING ARRAY FORMULAS
The above method will only work if your data is sorted so that the REPORTED and UNREPORTED rows are grouped together. If they cannot be sorted, you can use an ARRAY FORMULA, which essentially takes a formula which would normal apply to a single cell, and runs it over an entire range of cells. It returns an array of results, which must be reduced down to a single value. A basic array formula looks like this [assume for this example that A1 = 1, A2 = 2...A5 = 5]:
=IF(A1:A5>3,A1:A5,"")
Confirm this (and all array functions) by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER, instead of just ENTER. This looks at each cell from A1:A5, and if the value is bigger than 3, it gives the number from that cell - otherwise, it returns "". In this case, the result would be the array {"";"";"";4;5}. To get the single total of 9, wrap that in a SUM function:
=SUM(IF(A1:A5>3,A1:A5,""))
In your case, we will want to use an array formula to see what row in Sheet2 matches A1 from Sheet1, and B1 from Sheet1. This will look like this:
=IF(Sheet2!$A$1:A$100=A1,IF(Sheet2!$B$1:$B$100,ROW($B$1:$B$100),""),"")
This checks which rows in column A from sheet 2 match A1. For those that do, it then checks which rows in column B from sheet 2 match B1. For those, it pulls the row number from that match. Everything else returns "". Assuming no duplicates, there should only 1 row number which gets returned. To pull that number from the array of results, wrap the whole thing in a MATCH function. Now that you have the row number, you can use an INDEX function to pull the result in Column C with that row, like this:
FINAL ARRAY FORMULA METHOD
=INDEX($C$1:$C$100,MAX(IF(Sheet2!$A$1:A$100=A1,IF(Sheet2!$B$1:$B$100,ROW(Sheet2!$B$1:$B$100),""),"")))
Remember to confirm with CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER instead of just ENTER, when you type this formula. Note that I didn't refer to all of Sheet2!A:A, because array formulas run very slowly over large ranges.
The following formula should work without making any changes to the datasheets.
=INDEX(Sheet2!$A$1:$A$360,MATCH(Sheet1!A1,IF(Sheet2!$C$1:$C$360=Sheet1!B1,Sheet2!$B$1:$B$360),0))
Remember to save this formula as an array with CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER
Documentation on how to use INDEX and MATCH against multiple criteria can be found on Microsoft Support.
It's not clear what you want to do with the multiples that do not have corresponding matches. txed is listed as Unreported twice in Sheet1; kntyctap is listed as Unreported three times. There are only one corresponding match on Sheet2 for each of these.
Non-array Standard Formulas for multiple criteria matches
For Excel 2010 and above use this standard formula in Sheet1!C1:
=IFERROR(INDEX(Sheet2!$A$1:$A$999,AGGREGATE(15,6,ROW(1:999)/((Sheet2!$B$1:$B$999=A2)*(Sheet2!$C$1:$C$999=B1)), COUNTIFS(A$1:A1, A1, B$1:B1, B1))), "")
For version of Excel prior to 2010 use this standard formula in Sheet1!C1:
=IFERROR(INDEX(Sheet2!$A$1:$A$999, SMALL(INDEX(ROW($1:$999)+((Sheet2!$B$1:$B$999<>A1)+(Sheet2!$C$1:$C$999<>B1))*1E+99, , ), COUNTIFS(A$1:A1, A1, B$1:B1, B1))), "")
I've handled error with the IFERROR function in that latter formula. Excel 2003 and previous may have to use an IF(ISERROR(..., ...)) combination.

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