nesting formulas

[cinvic]

Can anyone tell me what this formula is doing? Specifically, why is the ISNA
function cited here? Is it because the data it is looking for not in the
first column in order?

I understand the vlookup function but how does it work within the ISNA?

=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(D32,Detail!$B$1:$B$289,1,FALSE)),"new"," x")

 

[bpeltzer]

If the vlookup function can't find a match, it will return NA. So embedding
the vlookup inside the ISNA test 'traps' the error. If no match is found the
vlookup returns NA, so ISNA evaluates to true and the IF function returns
"new". If a match is found by the vlookup, ISNA evaluates to false and the
IF function returns "x".

 

[cinvic]

As always, this website and your response is dead on and extremely helpful.
Thanks so much for your response!