Comparing two column values

[getnami]

Hi,

I want to compare two columns in excel and am using VLOOKUP for the same.

The criteria for search is:

Suppose column A and column B are to be compared.Column C is the resultant column.

1) I need to restrict my search till 4 characters in column B, as there are entries in the column A with only last few characters being different.
For ex:

Column A Column B
-------- --------
Confuse Confuse
Confusion Tradition
Tradition
Traditional

The syntax I am using is:
In column C (resultant column)
=VLOOKUP(LEFT(A2,5)&"*",B:B,1,FALSE) and then drag this for the entire column entry.

(But issue with this is that post comparing with column B and it displays what's there in column B as below:

Column A Column B Column C
-------- -------- --------
Confuse Confuse Confuse
Confusion Tradition Confuse
Tradition Tradition
Traditional Tradition

2) I want the comparision result to be picked from column A, so that I can get all kinds of similar entries from column A into the resultant column.

For ex:

Column A Column B Column C
-------- -------- --------
Confuse Confuse Confuse
Confusion Tradition Confusion
Tradition Tradition
Traditional Traditional


Could someone please help me in getting the above output??

Thanx in Advance
Regards,

[getnami]

Please consider only the first two romes in each of the examples given above.

[getnami]

Please consider only the first two rows in each of the examples given above.

[vnktummala]

I think you have posted your question in the wrong forum. Find one Microsoftz MS Office forum to get help.

Thanks,

[getnami]

Hi,

Sorry!!
Could you please suggest me a good excel forum wherein I can get the replies quickly.
I posted the same query in an excel forum but no response till now.

Thanks in advance

[vnktummala]

sorry I have no idea about them.

Thanks,