It is just a nesting of simple formulae, so if you are happy with such,
break it down

<F1: SEARCH("xyz",A$2:A$6) looks for all cells in the range with the value
<F2: IF(ISNUMBER(<F1),ROW(A$2:A$6)) returns the row numbers of same
<F3: SMALL(<F2,ROW(A$2:A$6)),ROWS(C$2:C3)) gets the next smallest
depending on the formula row
<F4: INDEX(A$2:A$6,<F3-MIN(ROW(A$2:A$6))+1) gets the value in the range
A2:A6 for this match
<F5: IF(ROWS(C$2:C3)<=COUNTIF(A$2:A$6,"*xyz*"),<F4,"") just ensures that
it shows blank after all are done

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HTH

Bob

"John" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone

I've been reading these post for just over a year and I'm not bad with
simple formulas.
but when I see something like
this,=IF(ROWS(C$2:C2)<=COUNTIF(A$2:A$6,"*xyz*"),IN DEX(A$2:A$6,SMALL(IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("xyz",A$2:A$6 )),ROW(A$2:A$6)),ROWS(C$2:C2))-MIN(ROW(A$2:A$6))+1),"")
my head start spinning.
Is there a book that specialize in that type of formulas.My problem is to
follow the logic and proper syntax.
Thank you for any suggestion and Happy New Year to all.
Regards
John