How do I compare two columns of data in Numbers to find the unique results?

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Level 1

8 points

How do I compare two columns of data in Numbers to find the unique results?

Hello all,

I'm looking for a way to compare the data from two columns so I can find the unique results and display that data in a third column. To be specific, here's what I'm doing.

Column A is a list of email addresses for people I have already written. Column B is a list of email addresses for people I would like to contact. I am not sure if there are email address from Column A in Column B, but there may be and if there are, I must find out so that I don't send a second email to these recipients. How can I have Numbers look at both columns and tell me which email addresses in Column B are not in Column A?

Thanks for the help!!!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Sep 4, 2012 9:05 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 8, 2012 7:42 AM in response to gfmp123

gfmp123,

Here's an alternate use of MATCH to find duplicates. I hope you find one of the two solutions, Wayne's or this one, useful for your case.

The expression in Column C is:

=IFERROR("Dup in Row "&MATCH(B, A,0), "")

Regards,

Jerry

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Answer 2

Sep 4, 2012 10:52 AM in response to gfmp123

This may help:

C2=IF(NOT(ISERROR(MATCH(B2, A,0))), "DUPLICATE", "")

select C2 and fill down

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Answer 3

Sep 4, 2012 5:49 PM in response to Wayne Contello

That's pretty awesome Wayne, the first thing that came to mind is the Excel "remove duplicates" function, and I wondered, "Oh gosh, I wonder if Numbers has a similar function. As always with computers, there are always several ways to skin the cat. Bob

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Answer 4

Sep 4, 2012 5:54 PM in response to robertlsmi

Bob,

There are always severl ways. The solution may depend on severl factors one of which is how often will you perform the task? If not very hard then the solution need only be good enough to solve the immediate problem. If many times then sometimes there are better ways. Post back if you need more help with this, or other, problems

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Answer 5

gfmp123 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 19, 2012 2:06 PM in response to Jerrold Green1

Thanks everyone for your insight and help. These ideas were all really useful.

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