on 11/6/2007 10:07 PM T. Valko wrote the following:
Create a table with your strings including the spaces.

See this screncap:

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/1858/americanod9.jpg

Here's the formula entered in B2 then copied down:

=IF(A2="","",IF(ISTEXT(LOOKUP(2,1/(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(G$2:G$9,A2))),G$2:G$9)),"American ","Metric"))


Thanks, Biff!
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Tiziano