Someone has [kindly] offered this solution to the problem I mention at
the bottom of this note...

=IF(COUNTIF($B$5:$B$1000,"*CL*"),VLOOKUP("*CL*",$B $5:$B$1000,1,0),"")

which kinda works, however on dragging the formula down it still only
gives me back the first value that meets the criteria it comes
across...not all of them...
eg:
CL_0001
CL_0002

ie: although another value exists, it only gives me back CL_0001

Any ideas? I'm getting desperate! and would really appreciate some help

cheers
Sue

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I would like the formula below to retrieve and return any entry within
a list (in excel) that begins with [or contains] the text "CL"..(in
this instance) - if there is nothing it returns a blank..

=IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCHB("CL",B5,1)),B5,"")

However I can only get it to search 1 cell at a time (and only in cells
below that cell ref (ie: B5), not above it). Is it possible to replace
the cell value with a range (ie: B:B)...so it searches more
extensively?

or is there something better that will do the trick?
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