You can use wildcard characters with VLOOKUP, so if you want to match
on the first 5 characters in cell A2, for example, you could have
something like this:

=VLOOKUP(LEFT(A2,5)&"*",table,col,0)

where table and col should be obvious to you.

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Apr 2, 9:31*pm, Paige Wolfgram <Paige
wrote:
I am using Excel 2003 and have two files containing mailing information. I
need to check and see which companies are on both lists. *I can't use a
VLOOKUP formula because some of the company names are slightly different.
e.g. One may have a LLC or Inc. at the end and the other doesn't. *Is there a
formula I can use to compare the first 4 or 5 letters in the company name
between the two files? Thanks! Paige