Vlookup Exact match instead of wildcard

[Graham182]

i'm trying to do i Vlookup

but i'm looking up for example

50212 but where i'm trying to find it, it looks like this
50212sd-23-2-09

is there anyway i can do



=vlookup(a2, (left, 5) A5-C5, 3, false)



Also is it possible to put a count in so it counts how many characters are in the original cell like 50212 is 5 and how do i put this in the Vlookup?



=vlookup(a2, (left, (count, a2) A5-C5, 3, false)


is there anyway to get an exact match. as i've use the wildcard and i've had

450212 and it found that rather than 50212?

Thanks for any help you can give
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[martindwilson]

wildcard should work if the numbers are to the left like that
=VLOOKUP(A1&"*",B1:D10,2,FALSE)

 

[Kelbo]

Assuming that you want to match the characters in G2.

Try this:

=VLOOKUP(G2&"*",$A$1:$B$4,3,FALSE)

Kelbo

 

[Graham182]

it works perfect for what i want for some of them

but when both start with the same numerics
it seems to bring up the first one right or wrong.
like

125463
12546

and i'm looking for 12546 it will bring back 125463 if you get what i mean

 

[martindwilson]

try extracting the numbers to another column and use that instead
use

=LOOKUP(9.99E+307,--MID(A1,MIN(FIND({1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0},A1&1234567890)),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1)))))

dragged down then look for exact match with vlookup or index/match