Create list from data range

Question

I was hoping to get a bit of help regarding formulas in Excel/VBA, I'm looking to do the following but I'm not sure how best to do it:

Okay, so I have a materials export from a piece of software and it comes out with the following sort of data:

In essence I would like to have a catalogue stored on a separate sheet which the function references for text strings that may be contained in a takeoff.

ie in E2 the function will check the column B for cells containing the text strings in A16:A18 (the consoles) and return any results along with the corresponding quantity to columns E and F. Similarly this will occur for the controller and cables.

I'm sure there's a solution somewhere but I've been unable to find one for lack of knowing what to search exactly.

Thanks for any help guys, it's appreciated.

Answer 1

What you may want to use is the COUNTIF function. Try this:

COUNTIF(A$2:A$13,"*" & A16 & "*")

Answer 2

If I am not mistaken you can check for the values in A16:A23 in the database dump column B1:B13, then you want the summer quantity for the matching values, where a match means the text you look for must be contained in the database dump column.

To get the quantity accordingly use the following formula in cell B16:

=SUMIFS(C$2:C$13;B$2:B$13;"*"&A16&"*")

then drag it into the other cells. The asterisks are text wildcards, so there may be text in front or behind the text part we look for.