Search and lookup
 

Heres my situation: In a cell Id like to develo a nested function where I can
search for a string( 8-character serial number) listed in an adjacent cell,
and return a TRUE, FALSE, or custom message depending on whether it finds the
value or not. In my case, the database values I am searching through are all
listed in one column, 15,000 rows deep, and are not sorted in ascending
order. I'm using this as a failsafe to determine if the string (which is the
serial number) actually exists (to make sure the user has entered the serial
number correctly) so that the item can be crossed off the list. I also have
VBA code to highlight the item corresponded with the serial number once the
failsafe function has determined the serial number is correct...

Search and lookup
 

Unless I'm missing something here it looks to me as if
you could use one of several tests, but MATCH will work as well as any.

Setup:
A1 = where you're typing in the serial number to verify
B1 = where our formula will go
Z1:Z15000 the list of valid serial numbers

in B1 put this
=IF(ISNA(MATCH(A1,Z$1:Z$15000,0)),"Boom! - No Match","Good Number!")


"KJW31" wrote:

Heres my situation: In a cell Id like to develo a nested function where I can
search for a string( 8-character serial number) listed in an adjacent cell,
and return a TRUE, FALSE, or custom message depending on whether it finds the
value or not. In my case, the database values I am searching through are all
listed in one column, 15,000 rows deep, and are not sorted in ascending
order. I'm using this as a failsafe to determine if the string (which is the
serial number) actually exists (to make sure the user has entered the serial
number correctly) so that the item can be crossed off the list. I also have
VBA code to highlight the item corresponded with the serial number once the
failsafe function has determined the serial number is correct...