In the corporate world, we are used to seeing databases where a few things occurred more than once. One may want to find out the first occurrence of a value in a range. Microsoft Excel has various useful formulas to perform this task with ease. The article will explain 3 different formulas with variations in them to find the first occurrence of a value in a range in Excel.
How to Find First Occurrence of a Value in a Range in Excel: 3 Handy Ways
We will use the following dataset to explain formulas to find the first occurrence of a value in a range in Excel.
In this scenario, the dataset contains two columns with the “Product Name“ and “ID“ of the products where you can notice repetitions of the values in the columns. Now, we need to find the first occurrence of a value in the range and explain three different formulas to do this. Therefore, go through the rest of the article to know about the formulas and how they work to find the first occurrence of a value in a range in Excel.
1. Using COUNTIF or COUNTIFS FunctionsÂ
COUNTIF is an easy and useful function to find the first occurrence of a value in a range. It takes single or multiple criteria and ranges based on singular or plural function usage. We will see each of them below.
1.1 Utilizing COUNTIF Function
The easiest formula to find the first occurrence of a value in a range is using the COUNTIF function.
📌 Steps:
- First of all, enter the formula given below into the D5 cell >> drag the Fill handle icon to join the data.
=B5&C5
- After that, in a new column write the formula shown below:
=(COUNTIF($D$5:$D5,$D5)=1)+0- Now, drag accordingly to get the result for all the rows. Follow picture numbering for this.
The result shows 1 for the values of the first occurrence in the range of cells D5:D11.
Note: Instead of adding zero we can use N Function nested with COUNTIF to get the same result.
Read More: How to Find First Occurrence of a Value in a Column in Excel
1.2 Implementing COUNTIFS with N Function
The above method is a bit slow. For faster results, you can use the COUNTIFS function nested with the N function.
📌 Steps:
- Now, copy and paste the expression into the D5 cell.
=N(COUNTIFS(B$5:B5,B5,C$5:C5,C5)=1)- COUNTIFS(B$5:B5,B5,C$5:C5,C5) → counts the number of cells specified by a given set of conditions and criteria. Here, the B$5:B5 cells represent the criteria_range1 argument that refers to the “Product Name”, whereas the B5 cell indicates the criteria1 argument. Then, the C$5:C5 cells represent the criteria_range2 argument that refers to the “ID”, whereas the C5 cell indicates the criteria2 argument.
- Output → 1
- N(COUNTIFS(B$5:B5,B5,C$5:C5,C5)=1) →  converts a non-number value to a number.
- Output → 1
The result will be the same as Method 1.1.
The formula is the same as the method. The only difference is that here we do not need a join column. Again, COUNTIFS can take multiple ranges and criteria.
2. Applying Nested ISNUMBER and MATCH Functions
Moreover, you can also use nest the ISNUMBER and the MATCH functions to find the first occurrence of a value in a range.
📌 Steps:
- To begin with, type in the equation in cell D5 as below.
=1- ISNUMBER(MATCH(B5,B$4:B4,0))
The result shows 1 for the first occurrence of the values in the range.
- MATCH(B5,B$4:B4,0) → returns the relative position of an item in an array matching the given value. Here, B5 is the lookup_value argument that refers to the Wi-Fi Router. Following, B$4:B4 represents the lookup_array argument from where the value is matched. Lastly, 0 is the optional match_type argument which indicates the Exact match criteria.
- Output → #N/A
- ISNUMBER(MATCH(B5,B$4:B4,0)) →  checks whether a value is a number and returns TRUE or FALSE. Here, MATCH(B5,B$4:B4,0) is the value argument, and it returns FALSE.
- Output → FALSE
- 1-FALSE → 1
3. Employing Nested INDEX with other Functions
Furthermore, we can extract values of the first occurrence in a column by the reference of another column using INDEX nested with other functions such as MATCH, SMALL, IF, SEARCH, and so forth. We will see a few of them below.
3.1 Using Nested INDEX and MATCH Functions
Let’s start with the nested INDEX and MATCH formula.
📌 Steps:
- Here, the formula for the given dataset will be:
=INDEX($C$5:$C$11,MATCH($B$5,$B$5:$B$11,0))
The result shows the value of Cell C5 with the first occurrence of the value of Cell B5 in the range B5:B11.
3.2 Utilizing Nested INDEX with SMALL, IF, and ROW Functions
Besides, the INDEX function can also be nested with functions like SMALL, IF, and ROW functions to get the desired value of the first occurrence of a column from the reference of another one in the range.
📌 Steps:
- For instance, the formula is:
=INDEX($C$5:$C$11,SMALL(IF($B$5=$B$5:$B$11,ROW($B$5:$B$11)-ROW($B$5)+1),1))- IF($B$5=$B$5:$B$11,ROW($B$5:$B$11)-ROW($B$5)+1) → checks whether a condition is met and returns one value if TRUE and another value if FALSE. Here, $B$5=$B$5:$B$11 is the logical_test argument while the function returns ROW($B$5:$B$11)-ROW($B$5)+1 (value_if_true argument) otherwise it returns  (value_if_false argument).
- SMALL(IF($B$5=$B$5:$B$11,ROW($B$5:$B$11)-ROW($B$5)+1),1) → returns the kth smallest value in data set.
- Output → 1
- INDEX($C$5:$C$11,SMALL(IF($B$5=$B$5:$B$11,ROW($B$5:$B$11)-ROW($B$5)+1),1)) → returns a value at the intersection of a row and column in a given range. In this expression, the $C$5:$C$11 is the array argument. Next, SMALL(IF($B$5=$B$5:$B$11,ROW($B$5:$B$11)-ROW($B$5)+1),1) is the row_num argument that indicates the row location.
- Output→ “#11_01”
Further, the result will be the same as Method 3.1 of this section.
- Furthermore, with this formula, you can also get the value of the 2nd time occurring value in the range by changing the 1 at the end of the formula by 2.
- Now, let’s change the ID number for the 2nd occurred “Wi-Fi Router” value to “#11_00″.
At this point, the result shows “#11_00” which is the ID number of the 2nd time-occurring of the value “Wi-Fi Router” in the range.
3.3 Applying Nested INDEX with ISNUMBER & SEARCH Functions
Moreover, we are going to use another formula with the nested INDEX, ISNUMBER, and SEARCH functions which matches data with another given data and gives outputs for duplicates only.
📌 Steps:
- In this case, select cell D5 and insert the formula as shown below.
=INDEX($E$5:$E$7,MATCH(TRUE,ISNUMBER(SEARCH($E$5:$E$7,B5)),0))
In addition, you can notice that the output at Cell D9 shows invalid results. It is because it has no duplicates within the range.
How to Find Last Occurrence of a Value in a Column in Excel
Lastly, we can use the XLOOKUP function to obtain the last occurrence of a value in a column in Excel.
📌 Steps:
- Initially, enter the formula given below into the G5 cell.
=XLOOKUP(G4,C5:C12,D5:D12,,,-1)
Here, the C5:C12 and D5:D12 cells refer to the “Item” and “Price” columns.
Admittedly, we’ve skipped other relevant examples of how to find the last occurrence of a value in Excel, which you may explore if you wish.
Things to Remember
- Firstly, use the Fill handle icon to drag the formula for finding results for the rest of the values in the range.
- Second, you have to understand how you want your result and then apply any of the methods which suit you.
Practice Section
Additionally, we have provided a Practice section on the right side of each sheet so you can practice yourself. Please make sure to do it by yourself.
Download Practice Workbook
Conclusion
To sum up, this article explains three different formulas to find the first occurrence of a value in the range in Excel. The formulas include functions like COUNTIF, INDEX, ISNUMBER, SMALL, ROW, MATCH, and so on. I hope the article has helped you find your solution. If you have any further queries you can write those in the comment section.
Related Readings
- How to Find Multiple Values in Excel
- How to Find First Value Greater Than in Excel
- Find Last Value in Column Greater than Zero in Excel
- How to Find Value in Column in Excel
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