Click OK and Excel adds 1 to the selected values in column A, 2 to the selected values in column B, and 3 to the selected values in column C.
Comparing columns in Excel is something that we all do once in a while. Microsoft Excel offers a number of options to compare and match data, but most of them focus on searching in one column. In this tutorial, we will explore several techniques to compare two columns in Excel and find matches and differences between them. How to compare 2 columns in Excel row-by-row When you do data analysis in Excel, one of the most frequent tasks is comparing data in each individual row. This task can be done by using the, as demonstrated in the following examples. Compare two columns for matches or differences in the same row To compare two columns in Excel row-by-row, write a usual IF formula that compares the first two cells. Enter the formula in some other column in the same row, and then copy it down to other cells by dragging the fill handle (a small square in the bottom-right corner of the selected cell).
If your table has a fixed number of rows, you can specify a certain range (e.g. $B2:$B10) rather than the entire column ($B:$B) for the formula to work faster on large data sets. The same result can be achieved by using an IF formula with the embedded ISERROR and MATCH functions: =IF(ISERROR(MATCH($A2,$B$2:$B$10,0)),'No match in B',') Or, by using the following array formula (remember to press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to enter it correctly): =IF(SUM(-($B$2:$B$10=$A2))=0, ' No match in B', ') If you want a single formula to identify both matches (duplicates) and differences (unique values), put some text for matches in the empty double quotes (') in any of the above formulas. For example: =IF(COUNTIF($B:$B, $A2)=0, 'No match in B', 'Match in B') How to compare two lists in Excel and pull matching data Sometimes you may need not only match two columns in two different tables, but also pull matching entries from the second table. Microsoft Excel provides a special function for such purposes - the. As an alternative, you can use more powerful and versatile INDEX & MATCH formulas. For example, the following formula compares the product names in columns D and A and if a match is found, a corresponding sales figure is pulled from column B.
If no match is found, the #N/A error is returned. =INDEX($B$2:$B$6,MATCH($D2,$A$2:$A$6,0)) For the detailed explanation of the formula's syntax and more formula examples, please check out the following tutorial. If you don't feel very comfortable with this formula, then you may want to try the - a fast and intuitive solution that can compare and match 2 tables by any column(s). Compare two lists and highlight matches and differences When you compare columns in Excel, you may want to 'visualize' the items that are present in one column but missing in the other. You can shade such cells in any color of your choosing by using the feature and the following examples demonstrate the detailed steps. Highlight matches and differences in each row To compare two columns and Excel and highlight cells in column A that have identical entries in column B in the same row, do the following:.
Select the cells you want to highlight (you can select cells within one column or in several columns if you want to highlight entire rows). Click Conditional formatting New Rule Use a formula to determine which cells to format. Create a rule with a simple formula like =$B2=$A2 (assuming that row 2 is the first row with data, not including the column header). Please double check that you use a relative row reference (without the $ sign) like in the formula above. To highlight differences between column A and B, create a rule with the formula =$B2$A2 If you are new to Excel conditional formatting, please see for step-by-step instructions. Highlight unique entries in each list Whenever you are comparing two lists in Excel, there are 3 item types that you can highlight:. Items that are only in the 1 st list (unique).
Items that are only in the 2 nd list (unique). Items that are in both lists (duplicates) - demonstrated in the.
This example demonstrates how to highlight items that are in one list only. Supposing your List 1 is in column A (A2:A6) and List 2 in column C (C2:C5). You create the conditional formatting rules with the following formulas: Highlight unique values in List 1 (column A): =COUNTIF($C$2:$C$5, $A2)=0 Highlight unique values in List 2 (column C): =COUNTIF($A$2:$A$6, $C2)=0 And get the following result: Example 3. Highlight matches (duplicates) between 2 columns If you closely followed the, you won't have difficulties adjusting the COUNTIF formulas so that they find the matches rather than differences. All you have to do is to set the count greater than zero: Highlight matches in List 1 (column A): =COUNTIF($C$2:$C$5, $A2)0 Highlight matches in List 2 (column C): =COUNTIF($A$2:$A$6, $C2)0 Highlight row differences and matches in multiple columns When comparing values in several columns row-by-row, the quickest way to highlight matches is creating a conditional formatting rule, and the fastest way to shade differences is embracing the Go To Special feature, as demonstrated in the following examples. Compare multiple columns and highlight row matches To highlight rows that have identical values in all columns, create a conditional formatting rule based on one of the following formulas: =AND($A2=$B2, $A2=$C2) or =COUNTIF($A2:$C2, $A2)=3 Where A2, B2 and C2 are the top-most cells and 3 is the number of columns to compare.
Of course, neither AND nor COUNTIF formula is limited to comparing only 3 columns, you can use similar formulas to highlight rows with the same values in 4, 5, 6 or more columns. Compare multiple columns and highlight row differences To quickly highlight cells with different values in each individual row, you can use Excel's Go To Special feature. Select the range of cells you want to compare. In this example, I've selected cells A2 to C8.
By default, the top-most cell of the selected range is the active cell, and the cells from the other selected columns in the same row will be compared to that cell. As you can see in the screenshot above, the active cell is white while all other cells of the selected range are highlighted. In this example, the active cell is A2, so the comparison column is column A.
To change the comparison column, use either the Tab key to navigate through selected cells from left to right, or the Enter key to move from top to bottom. To select non-adjacent columns, select the first column, press and hold Ctrl, and then select the other columns. The active cell will be in the last column (or in the last block of adjacent columns). To change the comparison column, use the Tab or Enter key as described above.
On the Home tab, go to Editing group, and click Find & Select Go To Special Then select Row differences and click the OK button. The cells whose values are different from the comparison cell in each row are highlighted.If you want to shade the highlighted cells in some color, simply click the Fill Color icon on the ribbon and select the color of your choosing. How to compare two cells in Excel In fact, comparing 2 cells is a particular case of except that you don't have to copy the formulas down to other cells in the column. For example, to compare cells A1 and C1, you can use the following formulas: For matches: =IF(A1=C1, 'Match', ') For differences: =IF(A1C1, 'Difference', ') To learn a few other ways to compare cells in Excel, please see. For more powerful data analysis, you may need more sophisticated formulas and you can find a few good ideas in the following tutorials:. Formula-free way to compare two columns / lists in Excel Now that you know Excel offerings for comparing and matching columns, let me demonstrate you an alternative solution that can compare 2 lists with a different number of columns for duplicates (matches) and unique values (differences).
Can search for identical and unique entries within one table as well as compare two tables residing on the same sheet or in 2 different worksheets / workbooks. For the purpose of this article, we will be focusing on the second feature, which is called Compare Two Tables and is specially designed for comparing two lists by any column(s) that you specify. The comparison of two data sets by several columns is a real challenge both for Excel formulas and conditional formatting, but this tool handles it with ease. Compare 2 lists by several columns in 6 quick steps Supposing you have 2 tables of data and you want to find duplicate rows based on 3 columns - Date, Item and Sales: Step 1. Assuming that you have the Duplicate Remover for Excel installed, select any cell within the 1 st table, and click the Compare Two Tables button on the ribbon to start the wizard. This button resides on the Ablebits Data tab, in the Dedupe group.
The wizard picks the entire table and suggests to create a backup copy of the original table, just in case. So, simply make sure your 1 st table is selected correctly and click Next. Select the 2 nd table by using the standard Select range icon. If both tables reside in the same workbook and have similar column names, there's a great chance that the second list will be fetched automatically as well. Select whether to search for matches or differences:. Duplicate values - look for matches, i.e.
Items that exist in both tables. Unique values - look for differences, i.e. Items that are in Table 1 but not in Table 2. In this example, we select Duplicate values and click Next. This is the key step where you select the column pairs you want to compare in 2 tables. In this example, we are comparing 3 columns - Date, Item and Sales. For the wizard to find the matching columns automatically, click the Auto Detect button in the upper-right corner.
![How To Multiply Two Columns In Excel For Mac How To Multiply Two Columns In Excel For Mac](https://support.content.office.net/en-us/media/a7938831-dcbd-4ad0-b386-47787bff3e05.png)
If the columns have different names in both tables, you might need to select the right column manually by clicking the little black arrow next to the Table 2 column on the right-hand side: Step 6. In the final step, you choose how to deal with the found items and click Finish.
The following two options deliver the results comparable to Excel formulas and conditional formatting that we've discussed earlier in this tutorial:. Add a status column - adds a new column with 'Duplicate' or 'Unique', like Excel IF formulas do. Highlight - shades duplicate or unique rows like an Excel conditional formatting rule. In addition, you can choose to delete the duplicate entries, move or copy to another worksheet, or just select the found items. In this example, I've decided to highlight duplicates in the following color: And got the following result in a moment: If we chose Add a status column in the previous step, the result would look as follows: This is how you compare columns in Excel for duplicates and uniques.
If you are interested to try this tool, you are welcome to a fully functional trial version. And if you like it, we will happily offer you the 15% off coupon code that we've created especially for our blog readers: AB14-BlogSpo. It works both for the purchased as a separate product and as part of. If you want to have a closer look at the formulas discussed in this tutorial, feel free to download the.
Thank you for reading and see you next week! You may also be interested in:.
Article Price in Price in Price in Price in Code Location A Location B Location C Location D - GWC-20100 43.94 HED-20102 53.55 AFC-201108 80.02 80.02 QRH-201202 87.07 87.07 DJS-201209 63.09 63.09 63.09 HTC-201210 74.17 74.17 PIL-201301 71.66 71.66 71.66 YPC-201305 70.57 70.57 RPT-P8157 51.96 51.96 51.96 POL-P9142 36.49 May I know for the above conditions, what are the formula that can be used to cross check whether or not if the article code is having the same price in different location? Your advise is highly appreciated. Thanks for your great work you do by helping others. I have a unique problem seeking formula for use in Office 2010.
Problem: Looking for a formula to:- Find matches in any two cells in the same row where. For example column A has exactly five or 8 digit numbers and column B has only a single digit with result in column c stating match/no match Say. I have two columns in Excel each having numbers.In the first column A i have 5 or 8 number digits exactly. In B i have a single digit. What i need to do is find if the number present in column B, is matching in column A with result in column c stating match/no match i have enjoyed your formula given 'Example 2. Find matches in any two cells in the same row If you are looking for a way to compare columns for any two or more cells with the same values within the same row, use an IF formula with an OR statement: =IF(OR(A2=B2, B2=C2, A2=C2), 'Match', ') '.
But not helping with my problem Please reply. Sorry you are having problems. Here is a copy of my IF(Countif. Formula and this should help you, I hope.
=IF(COUNTIF('2017 Assigned Org'!$A$5:$A$70,'2018 Assigned Org'!A7)=0,'New RC',') In my example, I am trying to find new RC's that were added in 2018 but did not exist in 2017. So my formula checks if the value in cell A7 of the 'Assigned Org' worksheet is found in rows A5:A70 of the '2017 Assigned Org' worksheet. And, I copy down the formula to all the rows in my '2018 Assigned Org' worksheet.