How to vlookup wildcard (~, *, ?) literally in Excel?

We can combine the VLOOKUP function and SUBSTITUTE function to vlookup value containing wildcards literally easily. Please do as follows:

Enter below formula into a blank cell, and press the Enter key.

=VLOOKUP(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(SUBSTITUTE(F2,"~","~~"),"?","~?"),"*","~*"),A1:D24,4,FALSE)

And then the value matched the lookup value has been found out from the array table. See screenshot:

The combined formula is too complex to remember? Don’t worry! This method recommend Kutools for Excel’s Select Specific Cells utility to easily vlookup value containing wildcards literally from the selected range easily.

1. Select the range you will vlookup value containing wildcards, and click Kutools > Select > Select Specific Cells. See screenshot:

2. In the opening Select Specific Cells dialog box, (1) please check the Entire row option in the Selection type section; (2) select the Equals from the first drop down list in the Specific type section, (3) type the value with wildcard into following box, (4) and click the Ok button. See screenshot above:

3. A dialog box comes out and shows how many cells (rows) have been found out and selected. Please click the OK button to close it. See screenshot:

And now the row containing the specified value with wildcard has been selected. And you can easily get the target value from the certain column. See screenshot:

Sometimes, you may need to vlookup many values containing wildcard literally from selected range in Excel at the same time. In this case, you can try Kutools for Excel’s Select Same & Different Cells utility to archive it easily!

1. Type the values with wildcards you will vlookup in a column, and click Kutools > Select > Select Same & Different Cells to open the Compare Ranges dialog box.
Note: In our case we type three values with wildcards in the Range F2:F4.

2. In the Compare Ranges dialog box, please do as left screenshot shown::

(1) Specify the column you will search for values with wildcard into the Find values in box;
(2) Specify the column you just entered the values with wildcards into the According to box;
(3) Check the Each row option in the Based on section;
(4) Check the Same Values option;
(5) Check the Fill backcolor option, and specify a fill color from below drop down list;
(6) Check the Select entire rows option.
(7) Click the Ok button.

3. Another Compare Ranges dialog box pops out and shows how many rows have been selected. Just click the OK button to close it.

And now entire rows containing the specified values with wildcards have been highlighted. And you can easily get the matched values from the certain column (the Amount column in our case). See screenshot: