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How to lookup first non-zero value and return corresponding column header in Excel?

Author Xiaoyang Last modified

Supposing, you have a range of data, now, you want to return the column header in that row where the first non-zero value occurs as following screenshot shown, this article, I will introduce a useful formula for you to deal with this task in Excel.

lookup first non-zero value and return corresponding column header

Lookup the first non-zero value and return corresponding column header with formula

arrow blue right bubble Lookup the first non-zero value and return corresponding column header with formula

To return the column header of the first non-zero value in a row, the following formula may help you, please do as this:

Enter this formula: =INDEX($B$1:$I$1,MATCH(TRUE,INDEX(B2:I2<>0,),0)) into a blank cell where you want to locate the result, K2, for example, and then drag the fill handle down to the cells that you want to apply this formula, and all the corresponding column headers of the first non-zero value are returned as following screenshot shown:

use a formula to lookup first non-zero value and return corresponding column header

Note: In the above formula, B1:I1 is the column headers which you want to return, B2:I2 is the row data that you want to lookup the first non-zero value.

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