How to find a matching row in Excel?

Question

Given

A search key

---------------------------
|   |  A  | B | C |   D   |
---------------------------
| 1 | 01  | 2 | 4 | TextA |
---------------------------

An Excel sheet

------------------------------
|   |  A | B | C |   D   | E |
------------------------------
| 1 | 03 | 5 | C | TextZ |   |
------------------------------
| 2 | 01 | 2 | 4 | TextN |   |
------------------------------
| 3 | 01 | 2 | 4 | TextA |   |
------------------------------
| 4 | 22 | T | N | TextX |   |
------------------------------

Question

I would like to have a function like this: f(key) -> result_row.

That means: given a search key (01, 2, 4, TextA), the function should tell me that the matching row is 3 in the example above.

The values in the search key (A, B, C, D) are a unique identifier.

How do I get the row number of the matching row?

One solution

The solution that comes first to my mind is to use Visual Basic for Application (VBA) to scan column A for "01". Once I've found a cell containing "01", I'd check the adjacent cells in columns B, C and D whether they match my search criteria.

I guess that algorithm will work. But: is there a better solution?

Version

• Excel 2000 9.0.8961 SP3
• VBA 6.5

However, if you happen to know a solution in any higher versions of Excel or VBA, I am curious to know as well.

Edit: 22.09.2010

Thank you all for your answers. @MikeD: very nice function, thank you!

My solution

Here is the solution I prototyped. It's all hard-coded, too verbose and not a function as in MikeD's solution. But I'll rewrite it in my actual application to take parameters and to return a result value.

Sub FindMatchingRow()
    Dim searchKeyD As Variant
    Dim searchKeyE As Variant
    Dim searchKeyF As Variant
    Dim searchKeyG As Variant

    Const indexStartOfRange As String = "D6"
    Const indexEndOfRange As String = "D9"

    ' Initialize search key
    searchKeyD = Range("D2").Value
    searchKeyE = Range("E2").Value
    searchKeyF = Range("F2").Value
    searchKeyG = Range("G2").Value


    ' Initialize search range
    myRange = indexStartOfRange + ":" + indexEndOfRange

    ' Iterate over given Excel range
    For Each myCell In Range(myRange)

        foundValueInD = myCell.Offset(0, 0).Value
        foundValueInE = myCell.Offset(0, 1).Value
        foundValueInF = myCell.Offset(0, 2).Value
        foundValueInG = myCell.Offset(0, 3).Value

        isUnitMatching = (searchKeyD = foundValueInD)
        isGroupMatching = (searchKeyE = foundValueInE)
        isPortionMatching = (searchKeyF = foundValueInF)
        isDesignationMatching = (searchKeyG = foundValueInG)
        isRowMatching = isUnitMatching And isGroupMatching And isPortionMatching And isDesignationMatching

        If (isRowMatching) Then
            Range("D21").Value = myCell.Row
            Exit For
        End If

    Next myCell
End Sub

This is the Excel sheet that goes with the above code:

Answer 1

here's a small VBA function I often use for that kind of purpose

Function FindInRange(InRange As Range, Arg As Range) As Integer
Dim Idx As Integer, Jdx As Integer, IsFound As Boolean

    FindInRange = 0
    IsFound = False

    For Idx = 1 To InRange.Rows.Count
        IsFound = True
        For Jdx = 1 To InRange.Columns.Count
            If InRange(Idx, Jdx) <> Arg(1, Jdx) Then
                IsFound = False
                Exit For
            End If
        Next Jdx

        If IsFound Then
            FindInRange = Idx
            Exit For
        End If
    Next Idx

End Function

InRange must be same width or wider than Arg, but can be of course larger or smaller than your A:D

In your Sample sheet enter in an empty cell "=findinrange(A1:D4,A3:D3)"

The formula will return "0" if nothing found, else the row #

Good luck - MikeD