HLOOKUP Function in Excel: Look Up Across the Top Row of a Table

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

⏱ 1 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

LookupLevel: IntermediateAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. Related functions

HLOOKUP is VLOOKUP turned sideways: it searches the top row and returns a value from a row below.

Syntax

=HLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, row_index_num, [range_lookup])
Argument What it means
lookup_value Value to find in the first row.
row_index_num Which row to return.
range_lookup FALSE for exact.

Examples

Example 1

=HLOOKUP("Mar", $B$1:$M$20, 5, FALSE)

March value for the 5th row of a months-across table.

VLOOKUP · XLOOKUP · INDEX

📚 Part of the free Excel course: Beginner → Expert · Try it in the Formula Lab or ask the AI Helper.

📎 Practice files for this article

  • 📗
    Lookup scenarios workbookVLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH and XLOOKUP side by side — vertical, horizontal, two-way — plus 6 real failure cases and their fixes, with PASS/FAIL checks.
    ⬇ XLSX · 10 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

Keep reading

Excel Functions A–ZMINIFS Function in Excel: Smallest Value Meeting ConditionsExcel Functions A–ZINT Function in Excel: Whole Number Part (Rounds Down)Excel Functions A–ZFILTER Function in Excel: Return Every Row That Matches
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