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How to check if a value exists within a comma-separated list in an Excel cell?

Author Siluvia Last modified

In Excel, you may need to determine whether a specific value exists within a cell containing a comma-separated list, such as Sales,123,AAA. This guide explains a simple formula-based method to quickly check for the presence of a value and return a result indicating "Yes" or "No."

Check if a value exists in a comma-separated list in an Excel cell with a formula

Check if a value exists in a comma-separated list in an Excel cell with a formula

The following formula can help you find a value in a cell with a comma-separated list in Excel. Please do as follows.

1. Select a blank cell, enter the formula =IF(ISNUMBER(SEARCH(123,A2)),"yes","no") into the Formula Bar and then press the Enter key. See screenshot:

A screenshot showing a formula in Excel to check if a value exists in a comma-separated list

Note: In the formula, A2 is the cell containing the comma-separated values you want to check.

2. Keep selecting the result cell and drag the Fill Handle down to get all results. If value “123” is in the comma-separated cells, you will get the result as “Yes”; otherwise, you will get the result as “No”. See screenshot:

A screenshot showing results in Excel indicating whether a value exists in a comma-separated list

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