Lookup Function in Excel

[999HelpPlease]

I am trying to use the lookup function in excel.

In Cell M1 I have a drop down list of all the months of the year with just using the first three letters of the month.

In cell M2 I have the following lookup statement: =LOOKUP(M1,{"Jan";"Feb";"Mar";"Apr";"May";"Jun";"Jul";"Aug";"Sep";"Oct";"Nov";"Dec"},{1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9;10;11;12})

In cell M2 I want it to populate whichever number the month represents. Example : if Jan was in M1, then 1 would be in M2, if Dec was in M1, then 12 would be in M2.

For some reason some months work and some do not.

I have never used this function before am I doing something wrong or is there a better way of doing this?

 

[Jonmo1]

Lookup requires the lookup table to be sorted in ascending order.
So Apr would be first, Sep would be last.

 

[Jonmo1]

That said, there are much easier ways to convert the 3 digit abbreviated month string into the month number..

Try
=MONTH(1&M1)

 

[Weazel]

maybe something like...

=MONTH(M1&1)

 

[999HelpPlease]

That said, there are much easier ways to convert the 3 digit abbreviated month string into the month number..

Try
=MONTH(1&M1)

Thank you it worked.

 

[999HelpPlease]

maybe something like...

=MONTH(M1&1)

Thank you.

 

[Jonmo1]

You're welcome.