Lookup & Reference

Excel formula for Look up with a partial match (wildcard)

Find a row when you only know part of the value.

Copy this formula

=XLOOKUP("*"&A2&"*", Names, Ids, , 2)

How the formula works

XLOOKUP match mode 2 enables wildcards; wrapping the lookup value in * matches it anywhere in the text. Use ? for a single character. VLOOKUP supports wildcards too with an exact-match FALSE.

Examples

=VLOOKUP("*"&A2&"*", Table, 2, FALSE)→Acme Corp

Matches a name containing the search text.

FAQ

How do I match a literal asterisk?

Precede it with a tilde: "~*" matches an actual * character.

Related formulas

Look up a value with XLOOKUP Check if text contains any word from a list

Functions used

XLOOKUP VLOOKUP

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