Compare Columns, Find Matches
 

Hello...

I have an issue where I have two columns of data. One column I use as
the control set of data, as it is complete and formatted like the end
product will be. The second column of data is, well, a mess. It will
have matches to the first (control) column, but not exact.

The data in the columns is numeric. The control data will have an 8
digit ID, and the other column could have combination of between 4 and
8 digits. An example of this is as follows:

Column A Column B
(messy data) (control data)

012345 01234500
3456 00345600
00123400 00123400

In the data above, for my results, I would need to have all three of
these return as matches. What people have done is, as in the first
number in Column A, is left off the trailing two zeros. In the second
number in Column A, they left off the leading and trailing two zeros.
The third number in Column A is how the data *should* have been
entered.

Is there a way to have Excel be able to "look" these numbers this way
and return a match?

I appreciate any advice that can be provided... Thank you in advance!

Stacy