Okay brilliant, thank you.
Tried it out and it makes sense.
Will extend it now to the actual workbook.
Really grateful
--
Richard


"T. Valko" wrote:

If I understand what you want, try this...

This data in the range A2:D3 -

widget1 nylon carton1 tape
widget2 rubber carton2 film

A10 = parent lookup value = widget1

B10:B11 = list of acceptable values

Enter this formula in C10 and copy down to C11:

=IF(COUNT(MATCH(B10,INDEX(B$2:D$3,MATCH(A$10,A$2:A $3,0),0),0)),B10,"error")

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"Richard" wrote in message
...
bill of material;
parent child child child
widget1 nylon carton1 tape
widget2 rubber carton2 film

list of acceptable values
nylon
rubber

if the result of looking up a cell with widget1 returns a value which is
in
the list of acceptable values, return value, if not return "error"

So the first cell with the formula would be targeted to return an
acceptable
value from a list of raw materials such as nylon or rubber say.
Another cell would then have a similar formula but with say an acceptable
value concerning cartons.

Each set of child parts would only ever contain one raw material in the
acceptable value list, never multiples.

The database is extracted using Microsoft Query from a stock control
program.
There are about 4500 parent parts and upto a maximum of 8 child parts per
parent.

Thanks, hope this gives you an idea of what I am stuck on.
(Is there a way I can post a spreadsheet example if this explanation is
not
clear)
Best regards
--
Richard


"T. Valko" wrote:

Can you post a small example and the expected result?

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"Richard" wrote in message
...
I have two data tables in Excel 2007.
Table A holds a bill of materials with parent and child parts laid out
suitable for use with vlookup.
Table B holds a selected list of raw materials which are child parts.

I want to lookup a parent part from a cell and search for one of its
child
parts in table A if the result of the search matches one of the raw
materials
in table B.

I can do simple vlookups but this is outside my knowledge.
Can anyone please point me in the right direction?
Thanks

--
Richard


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