many thanks Biff
excellent

"Biff" wrote:

Hi!

Try this:

=--LEFT(vlookup(A1,subjectArray,3),4)

Biff

-----Original Message-----
hi all,
how to apply the formula =vlookup(A1,subjectArray,3) to
read only part of
the cell in column 3 (say four digits from left).
i tried =vlookup(A1,subjectArray,left(3,4)). the result
was the entire value
of that cell for example 123456789 and not 1234.
thanks for any help
.