Using Vlookup() (or Hlookup()) in OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheets

“For all you spreadsheet users: here’s something kind of
cool.

“Let’s say that you have a set of data. You have a list of
items, and for every item that there is a unique item number,
category number, and packaging type. (One row and three unique
columns.)

“Or you have been getting your home entertainment organized and
you have a perfect system for throwing parties: for every main dish
there is a specific drink, appetizer, dessert, and game.

“Having the data isn’t the trick. What the data lets you do is
that elsewhere in your spreadsheet, you can type or select the
first item from a list, and have one or more of the other
associated pieces of data pop into the cells next to it. Select the
main dish and you also automatically get the associated drink,
appetizer, dessert, and game.

“You use =VLOOKUP() OR =HLOOKUP to do this.”

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