Lookup function?

[DLZ217]

I have a spreedsheet that will change on a day to day basis with peoples
names and a sentence associated with that person, this seems very simple but
I have messed with various functions and something just isnt clicking...

Example:
I want to type in A1, John, and in A2 auto populate what I have already
listed below for John, then the following day type Bill and get his
corresponding result. I will have a total of 8 names with 8 corresponding
sentences.
ie.
E1=John E2=Front Door
F1=Bill F2=Back Door

Make sense?

Thank you in advance!!

 

[PatrickA]

You're on the right track. Have you tried VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP?

Lookup functions can help you find and return related records. When
you use a lookup function, you're essentially saying, "Here's a value.
Go to another location, find a match for my value, and then show me
the words or numbers that are in a cell next to that matching value."
If it helps, you can think of that third value as your search result.

In the function names
V stands for vertical - use VLOOKUP when you need to search up and
down through one or more columns.
H stands for horizontal. - use HLOOKUP when you need to search across
through one or more rows of information.

Here's a sample formula
=VLOOKUP(G3,$A$4:$B$41,2,FALSE)

=VLOOKUP means Search through one or more columns of data
G3 means Use the value in G3 as your search term
$A$4:$B$41 means Search through cells A4 to B41 for a match to the
value in cell G3.
2 means and when you find a match, return the value in
column 2
FALSE means but only for an EXACT match.
Note: The $ symbols in $A$4 keep the row and column addresses from
changing when you copy the formula from cell to cell.

Hope this helps,

Patrick

 

[T. Valko]

Create a 2 column table with names in the left column and the comment in the
right column.

...........A..........B...................
1......Joe........good with mechanical issues
2......Sue.......excellent number cruncher
3......Biff........deserves a big raise

Then, use a lookup formula:

D1 = Sue

=VLOOKUP(D1,A1:B3,2,0)

 

[DLZ217]

Perfect! Thanks to both of you!