Still assuming that the values in the lefthand column of the table_array
are uniques, it seems one can get the correct results by entering
(*without* array entering, though that seems to work as well) into a
single cell with the following UDF instead of the built_in VLOOKUP
function(watch for word wrap in this posting):

Function ArrayVlookup(lookup_value, table_array, column_reference,
range_lookup)
ArrayVlookup = Application.VLookup(lookup_value, table_array,
column_reference, range_lookup)
End Function

E.g., =MAX(ArrayVlookup,A1:A3,A1:B8,0)

FWIW, I have never understood what was meant by "the VLOOKUP function
returns something different from an array". Based on the different
results achievable on the worksheet by running the built-in function
through VBA, I'd be more inclined to think that the built-in function
has a bug that VBA bypasses or corrects for, than that it returns
"something different from an array". But who knows? I certainly don't
know anything about the inner workings of the codes.

Alan Beban

CoRrRan wrote:
Yes, I did find this behaviour in my spreadsheet. When using the =Min
(Vlookup(...-function and CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER it in multiple cells, it
returned the SAME minimum value of the items in the first argument of the
Vlookup-function. I then assumed that it must be possible to use the
Vlookup-function in an singel-cell-array-style, but this didn't have the
correct effect.

So you assume (or others as you mention in the post which I am replying
to now) that the Vlookup-function returns something else than an array?
Quite strange this is, as Dominic also states in one of his e-mails: it
looks like a bug.

Well, anyway, thank you for your help! We now have a rather neat little
function in our calculation.

CoRrRan


Alan Beban wrote in news:#2jXBXlOFHA.3076
@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl:


There was a discussion of this a few months back in this forum. There
seems to be some thought that what the VLOOKUP function returns is
something other than an array. For what it's worth, if you were to

array

enter

=MIN(VLOOKUP(A1:A3,A1:B8,2,0) into two or more cells, it would in fact
return the expected minimum value to each cell.

Alan Beban

Domenic wrote:

Yes, my statement was incorrect. Thanks Alan!

While VLOOKUP does accept an array of lookup values, it doesn't seem

to

pass that array to a subsequent function, as in the following...

{=MIN(VLOOKUP(A1:A3,A1:B8,2,0))}

In article ,
Alan Beban wrote:



Domenic wrote:


Unfortunately, VLOOKUP does not accept an array of lookup values.

??

=VLOOKUP(a1:a3,a1:b8,2,0) array entered in a 3-cell column returns the
values from Column B corresponding to the values in A1:A3.

Alan Beban