Hlookup – Syntax and Applications
Technology today has allowed ordinary people access to the different productivity tools. These include word processors, spreadsheet applications, database software and presentation tools. For business use, the more common productivity tool is on manipulating spreadsheets. Even for applications like academic and indexing systems, spreadsheet applications are more useful than the other productivity packages. In this area, Microsoft Excel already has established its name and is becoming a standard in such applications. It can perform basic and complex manipulations of numbers and other data. It even has a facility for accessing reference or lookup tables stored in a separate worksheet or within the same worksheet. The commands for such are Hlookup and Vlookup, both referring to horizontal lookup and vertical lookup, respectively.
Hlookup is commonly used in applications where data are organized for each row. Similar data are presented in one row and the succeeding rows correspond to the data in the other rows. It is a function that finds a particular data that is stored in a matrix or table in the same worksheet or in another worksheet. It “looks up horizontally” for the data in the table.
Syntactically, the Hlookup function follows the following format:
Hlookup(value, table range, row index num, rangelookup)
The four parameters return the following data in the specified order. The “value” returns the data that is being looked for, the table range refers to the range of cells equivalent to the lookup table. The row index num is the location where Microsoft Excel will search for the data that corresponds to the value entered. Lastly, range lookup is specified as either true or false, where a false entry means you are looking for the exact match of the value. True entry, on the other hand, means when an exact match is not found, an approximate match will be returned.
The use of Hlookup may seem confusing for beginners but when you already know when to use and how to use it, data manipulation will be very easy in your spreadsheet. The applications of the function include inventory, sales, grading, and payroll systems, among others. There are other implementations of the function. When you already know the right application, the function will come very handy and organization of data becomes easy to handle. You no longer need to shift to database software just to present a more complex table of data. With Hlookup or Vlookup, the approach will be easy. If you have the interest and the time to learn how to handle the more complex sets of data, you can even use the advanced features of Microsoft Excel. You can use pivot tables for easy filtering of records. You can even create your own macros and design your own menus with their specific settings. The good thing about Microsoft Excel is that it is not just an ordinary spreadsheet tool that is confined to basic mathematical operations. The more complicated processes can be accommodated and various functions and additional operations are included for easy use and access.
