In an Excel sheet it is very important to get the correct data with which to work with the designed formulas. For this there exists a specific group of functions with which to perform data searches.
We understand that a search in itself is when we want to find some kind of information, we do not look for it directly as the data is unknown to us, and so we perform a search of a property or something similar that is know to us to possibly contain what it is that we are looking for. Eg if we are looking for a person we describe their physical aspect, while if we are looking for the tel. number of a restaurant we search in the tel. book for the name of the restaurant. The data that we are looking for is normally unknown to us, but we are able to search for it by using data that is known to us.
These are the availible options in Excel to perform searches:
| Función |
Descripción |
Ver Detalle |
| AREAS(reference) | Returns the number of areas in a reference |
|
| LOOKUP(...) | Searches
for the values of a range in a column or file. |
|
HLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,row_index_num,range_lookup) |
Searches for a value in the top row of a
table or an array of values, and then returns a value in the
same column from a row you specify in the table or array |
|
| VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,range_lookup) | Searches for a value in the leftmost column
of a table, and then returns a value in the same row from a
column you specify in the table |
|
| MATCH(lookup_value,lookup_array,match_type) |
Returns the relative position of an item
in an array that matches a specified value in a specified order |
|
| COLUMN(reference) | Returns
the column number of a reference |
|
| COLUMNS(array) | Returns the number of columns in an array
or reference.
|
|
| OFFSET(reference;rows;columns;height;width) | Returns
a range reference |
|
| ADDRESS(row_num,column_num,abs_num,a1,sheet_text) |
Creates a cell address as text, given specified
row and column numbers.
|
|
| CHOOSE(index_num;value1;value2;...) | Uses index_num to return a value from the
list of value arguments. Use CHOOSE to select one of up to 29
values based on the index number |
|
| ROW(reference) | Returns
the row number |
|
| ROWS(array) | Returns
the number of rows |
|
| HYPERLINK(link_location;friendly_name) | Creates
a direct access to a document |
|
GETPIVOTDATA(data_field;pivot_table;field1;element1;field2;element2...) |
Extracts
data stored in a pivot table. |
|
| INDEX(array,row_num,column_num) | Returns a value or the reference to a value
from within a table or range. |
|
| INDIRECT(ref_text;a1) | Returns the reference specified by a text
string. References are immediately evaluated to display their
contents. |
|
| TRANSPOSE(array) | Returns a vertical range of cells as a horizontal
range, or vice versa. |
|
You can practice some of the functions explained here in 
