Mastering HLOOKUP in Excel – Horizontal Data Lookup Made Easy

HLOOKUP stands for “Horizontal Lookup.” It searches for a value in the first row of a table and returns a value from a row below it in the same column.

🔹 Syntax:

=HLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, row_index_num, [range_lookup])

🔹 Example:

Get the sales for “January” from a horizontal table:

=HLOOKUP("January", A1:M2, 2, FALSE)

🔹 Key Arguments Explained:

• lookup_value – The value to search for (e.g., "January")
• table_array – The range with your headers and data
• row_index_num – The row number to return from (e.g., 2)
• range_lookup – FALSE = exact match

🔹 Real-Life Use Cases:

• 📆 Monthly sales lookup
• 📚 Student test results by subject
• 📈 Forecast values from a trend row

🔹 Tips:

• ✅ Use FALSE for accurate matches
• ✅ Lock ranges with $ symbols (e.g., $A$1:$M$2)
• ❌ HLOOKUP only works when headers are in the first row

🔚 Wrap-Up

HLOOKUP is a helpful formula when your data is arranged across columns. But for even more flexibility, try XLOOKUP next!

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