HLOOKUP works on the full text.

I tested a table with Corn & Carrots and it worked OK.

Have you included FALSE as the last parameter to find an EXACT Match? If
not, it will find the closest match, assuming data is sorted in ascending
order.

..
=HLOOKUP(D1,F1:J2,2,FALSE)

HTH

"The Toaster" wrote:

I am creating a workbook that is part of budget management. Within the
workbook is a list of products (i.e: apples, pears, oranges) & their budget
code. People need to be able to add new codes all the time. This data is
called through to the main spreadsheet & listed in a hidden table. From here
to data is shown in validation pick lists & the appropriate code is pulled
using HLOOKUP from the hidden table.

Unfortunately due to the stupidity of the users we have to keep as much of
the workbook locked & restrict useage.

The problem is that when we have two items with the same starting letter
(i.e corn & carrotts) HLOOKUP is only picking up the first code it comes two
& not comparing the full text.......help!