Reputation: 11
Each row of 4 columns represents a set of data
A1 : D1 1,2,3,4
A2 : D2 4,2,1,5
A3 : D3 5,3,2,1
etc.
Now the column set will be compared to another column set
F1 : I1 4,6,3,1
F2 : I2 4,3,2,1
F3 : I3 2,3,5,1
The set that matches to the other column set will be marked red. So in the example F2:I2
and F3:I3
will be marked red. They just need to contain the same numbers. The order is not important but all numbers should match.
I thought of using conditional statements but can't seem to find a way to compare and match sets of range to other sets of range.
As an alternative, I thought of adding all the columns =A1&" "&A2&" "&A3&" " &A4
then sort it then match it from there but I tried sorting from left to right the sets and it doesn't seem to be sorting right if I do it all at once. The sheet will contain a large amount of rows so that will be a chore to do it 1 by 1.
So I'm out of ideas as I am not that good with excel. :( Appreciate all the help I can get. :) Also, I don't mind learning other languages if it makes things easier. (as long as I can import the data from an excel)
Upvotes: 1
Views: 1404
Reputation: 166790
If you want to create a single column to match on then this should do it:
=CONCATENATE(LARGE(A1:D1,1),":",LARGE(A1:D1,2),":",LARGE(A1:D1,3),":",LARGE(A1:D1,4))
Then you can use the regular lookup functions such as MATCH()
Upvotes: 1