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A better use of lookup(), vlookup(), and hlookup() with examples for Google Sheets
The lookup(), vlookup(), and hlookup() functions (aka xLookup) are described in many tutorials and videos. Rather than adding yet another explanation of the basics of these powerful functions, I’m going to explore a better, more efficient way of using these functions with a few simple examples. Stay with me and you will quickly master this new technique.
My intent is to share what I learned about a less common yet beneficial way to leverage these functions to improve some of the most common tasks. Many people with a basic technical background know that a lookup function is just an implementation of a hash table.
What’s a Hash Table?
A Hash Table is an associative structure that can map keys to values. A simple example is a structure that maps the 2 letter symbol of each American state to the full name of the state. A lookup function, in a way similar to a hash table, will allow my spreadsheet, given 2 letters identifying a state, like “CA”, to retrieve its full name “California”. The Google implementation of the lookup functions is easy to understand and to use. Let’s see an example.
