Match in ranges created through 'address' and 'concatenate'

Question

My goal is to search in an address range for a specific match (=match(2, b2:b5). I created the address range through a concatenate function of two cells (=concatenate("b2",":","b5")). The outcome is displayed correctly (B2:B5), but I can't use match on that result ("2 is not found in B2:B5").
The problem is that match does not work on a "concatenate", meaning:
* MATCH(2,B2:B6) - works
* MATCH(2,CONCATENATE("B2",":","B6")) - does not work
I use the address function to create B2 and B6 - which works, e.g.  ADDRESS(B1+1;2) = B2 (assuming that B1=1)
Any idea how to convert the results of a concatenate to use it in match, vlookup, hlookup?
Thanks
Josef

Answer 1

Most of the time, I build formulas by pieces and it's only when every piece behave flawlessly which I gather them.
In this case it's not doable because OFFSET is used to give a range so we can't use it solely.
When I meet this case, I test a reduced shape.
=OFFSET($A$1,1,1) is supposed to return the value of the first cell of the range to define.
=OFFSET($A$1,1+5-1,1)  is supposed to return the value of the last cell of the range to define.
When they are checked, it's time to build the complete formula which is supposed to return the range :
=OFFSET($A$1,1,1,5,1)
In fact, when we write it this way, it returns the value of the 1st cell in the range.
Easy ways to check that it's OK are to encapsulate it in formulas like :
=SUM(OFFSET($A$1,1,1,5,1))
=COUNT(OFFSET($A$1,1,1,5,1))
As we are trying to build a formula returning what would be retuned by
=MATCH(6;B2:B6)
We just need to make a simple replacement:
=MATCH(6;OFFSET($A$1,1,1,5,1))
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) mercredi 25 janvier 2012
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