Here is the situation:

I have
Table Z (5x5 matrix where each ; indicates a new row)

A,B,C,D,E; F,G,H,I,J; K,L,M,N,O; P,Q,R,S,T; U,V,W,X,Y

My inputs are F K P U and my column headers are A B C D E

if you are familiar with vhlookup, the original equation can look like this:

example1:=vhlookup(K,D,Z) where the equation looks for value K in the first column and looks for D in the first row all in table Z

example1 = N.



Now lets say I want example2 to look for the input "test"

the equation looks like this

example2:=vhlookup(test,D,Z)

however since "test" is not located in column 1 there is an error, example2 will highlight red.


BUT I want example2 to return an alternative value if there is not a match using vhlookup. I want this value to be "backup"



summary:

example2:=vhlookup(K,D,Z)
example:=N
example2:=vhlookup(test,D,Z)
example2=backup


Excel has a function like this:

example:=iferror(vhlookup(test,D,Z),backup)