Extract unique items from a listGeneric formula {=INDEX(list,MATCH(0,COUNTIF(uniques,list),0))} Summary To extract only unique values from a list or column, you can use an array formula based on INDEX, MATCH, and COUNTIF. In the example shown, the formula in D5, copied down, is: {=INDEX(list,MATCH(0,COUNTIF($D$4:D4,list),0))} where "list" is the named range B5:B11. Note: this is an array formula and must be entered using control + shift + enter. Explanation The core of this formula is a basic lookup with INDEX: =INDEX(list,row) In other words, give INDEX the list and a row number, and INDEX will retrieve a value to add to the unique list. The hard work is figuring out the ROW number to give INDEX, so that we get unique values only. This is done with MATCH and COUNTIF, and the main trick is here: COUNTIF($D$4:D4,list) Here, COUNTIF counts how many times items already in the unique list appear in the master list, using an expanding reference for the range, $D$4:D4. An expanding reference is absolute on one side, relative on the other. In this case, as the formula is copied down, the reference will expand to include more rows in the unique list. Note the reference starts in D4, one row above the first unique entry, in the unique list. This is intentional we want to count items *already* in the unique list, and we can't include the current cell without creating a circular reference. So, we start on the row above. Important: be sure the heading for the unique list does not appear in the master list. For the criteria in COUNTIF, we are using the master list itself. When given multiple criteria, COUNTIF will return multiple results in an array. At each new row, we have a different array like this: {0;0;0;0;0;0;0} // row 5
{1;0;0;0;1;0;0} // row 6
{1;1;0;0;1;0;1} // row 7
{1;1;1;1;1;0;1} // row 8 Note: COUNTIF handles multiple criteria with an "OR" relationship (i.e. COUNTIF (range, {"red","blue", "green"}) counts red, blue, or green. Now we have the arrays we need to find positions (row numbers). For this, we use MATCH, set up for exact match, to find zero values. If we put the arrays created by COUNTIF above into MATCH, here is what we get: MATCH(0,{0;0;0;0;0;0;0},0) // 1 (Joe)
MATCH(0,{1;0;0;0;1;0;0},0) // 2 (Bob)
MATCH(0,{1;1;0;0;1;0;1},0) // 3 (Sue)
MATCH(0,{1;1;1;1;1;0;1},0) // 6 (Aya) MATCH locates items by looking for a count of zero (i.e. looking for items that do not yet appear in the unique list). This works, because MATCH always returns the first match when there are duplicates. Finally, the positions are fed into INDEX as row numbers, and INDEX returns the name at that position. Non array version with LOOKUPYou can build a non-array formula to extract unique items using the flexible LOOKUP function: =LOOKUP(2,1/(COUNTIF($D$4:D4,list)=0),list) The formula construction is similar to the INDEX MATCH formula above, but LOOKUP can handle the array operation natively.
Extract items that appear just onceThe LOOKUP formula above is easy to extend with boolean logic. To extract a list of unique items that appear just once in the source data, you can use a formula like this: =LOOKUP(2,1/((COUNTIF($D$4:D4,list)=0)*(COUNTIF(list,list)=1)),list) The only addition is the second COUNTIF expression: COUNTIF(list,list)=1 Here, COUNTIF returns an array of item counts like this: {2;2;2;2;2;1;2} which are compared to 1, resulting in an array of TRUE/FALSE values: {FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;FALSE;TRUE;FALSE} which act as a "filter' to restrict output to items that occur just once in the source data. UNIQUE function in Excel 365In Excel 365, the UNIQUE function provides a better, more elegant way to list unique valuesand count unique values. These formulas can be adapted to apply logicalcriteria. Author Dave Bruns Related formulas Get value of last non-empty cell In this example, the goal is to get the last value in column B, even when data may contain empty cells. This is one of those puzzles that comes up frequently in Excel, because the answer is not obvious. One way to do it is with the LOOKUP function... Lookup latest price The LOOKUP function assumes data is sorted, and always does an approximate match. If the lookup value is greater than all values in the lookup array, default behavior is to "fall back" to the previous value. This formula exploits this behavior by... Sort and extract unique values Note: the core idea of this formula is adapted from an example in Mike Girvin's excellent book Control+Shift+Enter . The example shown uses several formulas, which are described below. At a high level, the MMULT function is used to compute a numeric... COUNTIFS with multiple criteria and OR logic By default, the COUNTIFS function applies AND logic. When you supply multiple conditions, all conditions must match in order to generate a count. One solution is to supply multiple criteria in an array constant like this: { "complete" ,... Related functions Excel INDEX Function The Excel INDEX function returns the value at a given location in a range or array. You can use INDEX to retrieve individual values, or entire rows and columns. The MATCH function is often used together with INDEX toprovide row and column... Excel MATCH Function MATCH is an Excel function used to locate the position of a lookup value in a row, column, or table. MATCH supports approximate and exact matching, and wildcards (* ?) for partial matches. Often,MATCH is combined... Excel COUNTIF Function COUNTIF is an Excel function to count cells in a range that meet a single condition. COUNTIF can be used to count cells that contain dates, numbers, and text. The criteria used in COUNTIF supports logical... Excel LOOKUP Function The Excel LOOKUP function performs an approximate match lookup in a one-column or one-row range, and returns the corresponding value from another one-column or one-row range. LOOKUP's default behavior makes it useful for solving certain problems... Good links How to extract a unique distinct (Oscar Cronquist, Get Digital Help) Excel Formula TrainingFormulas are the key to getting things done in Excel.In this accelerated training, you'll learn how to use formulas to manipulate text, work with dates and times, lookup values with VLOOKUP and INDEX & MATCH, count and sum with criteria, dynamically rank values, and create dynamic ranges. You'll also learn how to troubleshoot, trace errors, and fix problems. Instant access.See detailshere. 500 Formulas | 101 Functions Download 100+ Important Excel FunctionsGet over 100 Excel Functions you should know in one handy PDF. EmailHP Video |