How to use VLOOKUP with exact match in Excel
In Excel, VLOOKUP with an exact match (FALSE) returns a result if and only if there is an identical value in the search column.
In this example, we'll find a company name based on someone's email address:
Formula in G4
=VLOOKUP(G3,B4:D7,3,FALSE)
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Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
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3
Email
Name
Company
Lookup value
4
mary@pg.com
Mary
Procter & Gamble
Result
Rockwell Automation
5
james@ab.com
James
Rockwell Automation
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elizabeth@cogitize.com
Elizabeth
Cogitize
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ashley@summables.com
Ashley
Summables
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Procedure
- Enter =VLOOKUP in cell G4, where you want the Company name to appear.
- Enter the Lookup value G3, which contains the Email (james@ab.com) you want to look for.
- Enter the Search range B4:D7, the range of data containing all the Email and Company values.
- Enter Column number 3, as the Company column is the 3rd column of the Search range.
- Enter FALSE to look for an exact match.
Result
The final formula is: =VLOOKUP(G3, B4:D7, 3, FALSE)
VLOOKUP returns the value in G4, which is Rockwell Automation.