Check if cell equals any value in list

For example, I have a list of text strings in column A, and now, I want to check if cell value in this column equals any value in another list of column E. If equals, display TRUE, otherwise, a FALSE value is displayed as below screenshot shown.

---

Check if cell equals any value in list with SUMPRODUCT function

To check if a cell equals any value in another list of data, the SUMPRODUCT function can do you a favor. The generic formula for the SUMPRODUCT function is:

• cell: A cell that you want to check;
• array: A range of cells where you want to compare with the specific cell.

1. Please enter or copy the following formula into a blank cell where you want to put the result:

2. And then, drag the fill handle down to the cells that you want to apply this formula, now, if the value in cell A2 equals any value in list of E2:E6, a TRUE is shown, if not equals, a FALSE is displayed, see screenshot:

---

Explanation of the formula:

• --(A2=$E$2:$E$6): compare the value in A2 with every cell value in range E2:E6, it will returns an array of TRUE or FALSE values, if the cell A2 equals any value in range E2:E6, a TRUE is returned, otherwise, it will be FALSE. And the double hyphens (--) is used to convert TRUE or FALSE to 1 or 0;
• SUMPRODUCT(--(A2=$E$2:$E$6))>0: SUMPRODUCT will add up the elements in the array, then use >1 to force the result as TRUE or FALSE.

---

Note: Sometime, you may need to use some specific texts to replace the TRUE or FALSE in the result, in this case, please apply any of the following formulas as you need:

---

Relative function used:

---

More articles: