One way:

=VLOOKUP("D",A1:D4,MATCH("B",A1:D1,0),0)

Or, use cells to hold the criteria:

A10 = D
B10 = B

=VLOOKUP(A10,A1:D4,MATCH(B10,A1:D1,0),0)

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"PBcorn" wrote in message
...
whats the best way to pick single values from a table based on text column
and row headers, i.e:

ABC
D 2
E
F

B:D=2

it has to be done using headers as new columns may be added

thanks