Comparing values in two columns to generate result in a third column

[andersonpdx]

Hello,

I'm doing some work with a large amount of data in Excel (about half a
million rows in total across 10 identically organized worksheets.

I'm working with sales transaction information and need to categorize
part name into a part category. Each row contains detail informatio
about every sales transaction that occurred during a date range. On
of the columns contains the part name (there are about 100 unique par
names in total). I want to compare the value for each cell in thi
column to a list in a separate worksheet. That list contains tw
columns. The first column has every unique part name used in th
worksheet. The second column has the category that each part name i
assigned to.

Example:

WS1 Col A WS1 Col B WS2 Col A WS2 Col B
Part Name Part Cat (Result) Part Name Part Category
-------------- ------------- -------------
------------------
Hammer Pliers
Tools
Nails Wrench
Tools
2x4 Hammer
Tools
Hammer 2x4
Lumber
Plywood Plywood
Lumber
Nails Nails
Supplies
Nails

The objective of the formula/function/macro? is to return the resultin
value of the part category for each part name in the 1st worksheet.

I hope this makes sense and that someone can steer me in a goo
direction. The "IF" function works great, but appears to be limited t
seven values (I need to work with about 100 values).

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Chri

 

[DDM]

Hello right back! A VLOOKUP should do the trick. See David McRitchie's intro
to this worksheet function at
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/vlookup.htm

DDM
"DDM's Microsoft Office Tips and Tricks"
www.ddmcomputing.com

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi
have a look at the VLOOKUP function. e.g.
=VLOOKUP(A1,'sheet1'!$A$1:$B$1000,2,0)
on your second worksheet in cell B1

 

[andersonpdx]

Thanks for the VLOOKUP tip. It seems to work great on some test data.

Regards,

Chri