For this type of lookup you can use wildcards.

=VLOOKUP("*today*",A2:B10,2,0)

Or, using cell to hold the lookup value:

D2 = lookup value = today

=VLOOKUP("*"&D2&"*",A2:B10,2,0)

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"Joe Phan" wrote in message
...
Hi, I am trying to match text in an array that may not be exact match in
the
cell and return the value in the adjacent column. example: look up
"today"
in the array that has "today is the 3rd" and then return the value next to
this. Seems simple, but I can not work this out. I 've looked through
the
discussions and can not seem to find the appropriate answer.