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How to find the closest matching value in Excel and Google Sheets
Topic:Lookups (any direction)Excel & Google Sheets
=INDEX(B2:B5,MATCH(MIN(ABS(B2:B5-D2)),ABS(B2:B5-D2),0))Try it with your data
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Step by step
- 1Put your target value in a cell (e.g. D2).
- 2Enter =INDEX(B2:B5,MATCH(MIN(ABS(B2:B5-D2)),ABS(B2:B5-D2),0)) in the result cell.
- 3In Excel (non-365), confirm with Ctrl+Shift+Enter. In Google Sheets and Excel 365, press Enter.
- 4ABS(B2:B5-D2) calculates the absolute difference for each value; MIN finds the smallest difference; MATCH locates its position; INDEX returns the original value.
Tips
- If two values are equally close to the target, this formula returns the first one found. To return the second, adjust the MATCH starting position.
- To return the label associated with the closest value rather than the value itself, change the INDEX range to the labels column.
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Frequently asked
What if the target exactly matches a value in the list?
The formula works correctly — ABS gives 0 for an exact match, which is the minimum, so the exact match is returned.
Can I find the closest value above or below the target?
Yes — filter the differences to only positive (above) or only negative (below) before finding the MIN.
More on Lookups (any direction)
See all →Reference
HLOOKUP
Look up a value in the top row of a table and return a value from a row below it — the horizontal cousin of VLOOKUP.
How-toHow to look up the last matching value
Use LOOKUP with a search trick or XLOOKUP with search mode -1 to find the last occurrence of a value in a list.
How-toHow to do a lookup with wildcards
Use VLOOKUP or MATCH with wildcard characters (* and ?) to perform partial-match lookups on text values.
How-toHow to do a case-sensitive lookup
Use INDEX with MATCH and the EXACT function to perform a lookup that distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase text.
How-toHow to look up a value and sum the matches
Use SUMIF or SUMIFS to sum all values that match a lookup criterion, returning the total of all matching rows rather than a single result.
How-toHow to look up a value across multiple columns
Use MATCH with a combined range or INDEX to search for a value across several columns and return the column it was found in or its adjacent value.