Hi John,

I don't have the knowledge to explain why you have so much trouble with
"crashes from syntax errors", but maybe if you quote a specific example
someone can help pinpoint the problem quicker.Just out of curiousity, have
you tried recording your actions using the macro recorder (excel - tools -
macro - record new macro) & then modifying the resulting code in the VBE?
I'm just learning what Excel can do myself, but I strongly believe that one
of the best ways to learn is to look at examples (eg Google "compare lists"
or "find/count/list duplicates" etc) & modify/copy the info - whether it's
macro or formula based.
A couple of pages I have found useful for techniques to use when comparing
columns of data a
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/duplicates.htm
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/duplicat.htm (a link on above page)
NB, Dave Hawley (among others, is very wary of using loops), eg
http://www.ozgrid.com/VBA/VBALoops.htm

hth,
regards
Rob

"john.jacobs71" wrote:

I am trying to build a very simple loop to compare columns of data in excel.
I am not an experienced programmer but I am trying to learn enough to write
this code. The problem is, none of the examples in online tutorials match
the software menu options in the Visual Basic Editor I open through the
tools/macro submenu. For example, the tutorial may recommend opening the
file menu and selecting new program, but in the tutorial this option does not
even exist. Furthermore, any code I have attempted to write, even when it is
directly copied from very basic examples, crashes from syntax errors. Are
there tutorials that match the Excel module of VB so that I can get started??