it's actually simple!

Yeah, I know! <vbg

maybe the spacing got screwed up in my post

Well, not the spacing. I read the table as column A having the values:
1,2,3, 4 etc. when they were actually the row numbers. Doh! But, that
happens.

Anyhow, glad you got it to work.

Biff

"z.entropic" wrote in message
...
Biff, finally and with your valuable guidance I got the syntax right; it's
actually simple! Thanks a lot for your time.

The solution for my latest example (maybe the spacing got screwed up in my
post) is
=INDEX(E$2:E$15,MATCH(A2&B$1,C$2:C$15&D$2:D$15,0))

z.entropic

"Biff" wrote:

Hi!

3. the array formula would be in a column inserted between cols A and B
and
copied by dragging down the first entered cell.

If that's the case then your data is in the range C:F

Entered in B2 as an array with the key combo of CTRL,SHIFT,ENTER:

=INDEX(F$2:F$15,MATCH(C2&B$1,D$2:D$15&E$2:E$15,0))

Copied down returns:

B2 = R
B3 = T
B4 = K
B5:B15 = #N/A

If you want to suppress the display of #N/A:

=IF(ISNA(MATCH(C2&B$1,D$2:D$15&E$2:E$15,0)),"",IND EX(F$2:F$15,MATCH(C2&B$1,D$2:D$15&E$2:E$15,0)))

OR, use the shorter formula together with conditional formatting:

Select the range B2:B15
Conditional Formatting
Formula is: =ISNA(B2)
Set the font color to be the same as the background color.
OK out

Biff

"z.entropic" wrote in message
...
I re-wrote my example to clarify it even mo
A B C D E
1 4
2 a a 1 o
3 b a 2 p
4 c a 3 q
5 d a 4 r
6 e
7 f b 2 s
8 g b 4 t
9 h b 3 u
10 i b 1 v
11 j
12 k c 5 x
13 l c 1 y
14 m c 2 z
15 n c 4 k

In effect, the formula in B2 should give 'r', because C2=A2 AND D5=$B$1
(a
VLOOKUP in two columns at the same time, where one value (B1) is a
constant).
The value obtained in B3 by dragging B2 should be 't' (C7=A3 AND
$B$1=4).

z.entropic