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How to return multiple matches in one cell in Excel and Google Sheets
Heads up: Excel and Google Sheets do this differently.
Excel
=TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,IF(B2:B4=A2,C2:C4,""))Google Sheets
=TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,FILTER(C2:C4,B2:B4=A2))Try it with your data
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Step by step
- 1Set up your data with a lookup column (B), a value column (C), and the search key in A2.
- 2In Excel 365, enter as an array formula: =TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,IF(B2:B100=A2,C2:C100,"")) — press Ctrl+Shift+Enter in older Excel, or just Enter in Excel 365.
- 3In Google Sheets, use =TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,FILTER(C2:C100,B2:B100=A2)) — FILTER extracts the matches and TEXTJOIN joins them.
- 4The second argument TRUE in TEXTJOIN tells it to skip empty strings, so only actual matches appear in the result.
Tips
- To return unique matches only, wrap FILTER in UNIQUE in Google Sheets: =TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,UNIQUE(FILTER(C2:C100,B2:B100=A2))).
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Frequently asked
Does TEXTJOIN work in older Excel versions?
TEXTJOIN was introduced in Excel 2019 and Excel 365. In Excel 2016 or earlier, you need a VBA function or a complex nested CONCATENATE approach.
How do I return matches from multiple conditions?
In Google Sheets: =TEXTJOIN(", ",TRUE,FILTER(C2:C100,(B2:B100=A2)*(D2:D100=A3))). In Excel 365: use nested IF with AND logic inside TEXTJOIN.