Excel Filter

The FILTER command subsets rows of data.


Usage

Filters

Given a worksheet like:

A

B

Alice

1

Bob

2

Charlie

3

Danielle

4

To subset the rows, try:

=FILTER($A$1:$B$10, $B$1:$B$10>2)

The returned value will be an array and spill, which is very likely intended here.


Lookups

The function can be used to lookup values from a separate table.

Given a worksheet like:

A

B

C

D

E

Alice

1

Alice

Bob

2

Danielle

Charlie

3

Ethan

Danielle

4

Column E can be populated like:

=FILTER($B$1:$B$10, $A$1:$A$10=D1, "NO MATCH ERROR MESSAGE")

This works even if the key in column D is non-unique.

However, if the key in column A is non-unique, then the returned value will be an array and spill. See here for help on fixing that.

Multiple AND Conditions

The second argument to the function is functionally a boolean array. To apply multiple conditions for a match, enclose the conditions in parentheses and multiply them.

=FILTER($B$1:$B$10, ($A$1:$A$10=D1) * ($B$1:$B$10>2), "NO MATCH ERROR MESSAGE")

Similarly, to match based on any of multiple conditions, use addition.

=FILTER($B$1:$B$10, ($A$1:$A$10=D1) + ($B$1:$B$10>2), "NO MATCH ERROR MESSAGE")

Note that, if the key in column A is non-unique, the returned value is ordered according to their original order, not according to which condition passed.


CategoryRicottone

Excel/Filter (last edited 2025-04-08 16:38:57 by DominicRicottone)