this is what i ultimately want... i tried the formula but got 0, why
is the lookup_value 2? sorry i'm a newbie here but last year i used
excel just to enter info into the cells, and didn't know what
functions were.
thanks

On Feb 12, 8:54 pm, "T. Valko" wrote:
One way:

Make a list of your frequent transaction parties. As an example:

Wal-mart
Costco
Allstate
Dennys
Albertsons
Mervyns

Then, your imported data may look like this:

DENNYS #6739 SOUTH JORDAN UT Date 11/14/06
MERVYNS 00002949 SANDY UT Date 11/14/06
BURLINGTON COA00000794 MURRAY UT Date 11/14/06
JCPENNEY STORE 0231 SANDY UT Date 11/14/06
POS ALBERTSONS 370 E. 200 S. SALT LAKE CIT UT
POS COSTCO #00487 11100 S. AUTO MALL
BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO #49057 DRAPER UT Date 10/17/06
REAMS FOOD STR.INC. SANDY UT Date 10/18/06

assume the above data is in the range A2:A9

The list of frequent transaction parties is in J2:J8

Enter this formula in B2 to extract the transaction party:

=LOOKUP(2,1/(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(J$2:J$8,A2))),J$2:J$8)

Copy down as needed.

Biff

wrote in message

oups.com...



im trying to simplify my personal bookkeeping. i import my data from
the bank as a .csv and want to transfer it to a second sheet without
all the jibberish. its set up with a vlookup etc. but what i can't
figure out is say my entry from shopping at wal-mart has
POS PURCHASE - WAL-MART #0822 WAL-MART
but i want to transfer it and say WAL-MART
i tried if(a1="*WAL-MART*","Wal-Mart",0) as a test but i guess it
didn't like the wildcards..
also what would be the best way to convert multiple entries, example
if i went to home depot, not wal-mart. would using or with if be the
best solution?
thanks in advance,
jeff- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -