Hi all,

I actually have two questions, the first one is like the title suggests, I'd like to know if there is a way to wildcard numbers. Say for example:

In column E (Account), I have a list of 5-digit numbers (12345, 22222, etc), in column H (year to date), I have the respective amount for each account. I want to do a sumif for all accounts starting 79xxx or 8xxxxx, but I can't wildcard a number.

What I have been thinking is to convert this Account (E) column into a text string (let's say column F) and instead wildcard on that column F. However, is there any other way to wildcard directly on that (E) account column?

The second one (and this is on a different data set), say I want to index-match partially a text string.

EDIT

Please see this image: https://imgur.com/a/FRmm2

So the first data set in B:C is the reference. I want to fill the "relate"/"unrelated" result from that data set into column H. You can see the current formula I use to return the matched value, and how most don't have a positive result due to the various different naming convention in each cell (although they are 99% the same transaction across the two years).
So I was wondering if there should be a better way to compare & match these texts?

----------these are older/original question detail, please see the above quoted text for a clearer wording----------

For example, I have two files (FY16 & FY17), both have an Event_Desc column that lists different events. Each of these events (in FY16 file) is coded "unrelated" or "related." The goal is to return the "related" or "unrelated" input into each event (in FY17/current file) that has somewhat a "similar" description with that of prior year (FY16 file).
For example, in FY16 file Event_Desc might have cell A1 "Kellogg ROTC Coffee set up 2/12" that was coded "related", but FY17 might have another cell that reads "Kellogg ROTC Coffee set up 06/11" or "Kellogg Coffee set up" or "Kellogg ROTC" or any of the above combination. Similarly, cell A2 (FY16 file) might have "PE Reception" while in FY17 file, it might "PE Reception 1", etc. These are naturally all similar transactions/events and will be coded the same way in FY17, but I'm finding it hard to match partially on these phrases.
What do you say is the most efficient and inclusive way to run a search for partial text in examples like above?

To clarify, the Event_Desc has all sorts of different transaction so it won't be a match phrase on a specific text string but rather each cell in the column itself.
What I have been doing is having something like this

MATCH(""&"[@[Event_Desc]]&"",....)

(again, the Event_Desc column contains all different type of different events)

However, as you can see, this relies on a very precise/almost same input on every Event_Desc accross two years.

Are there any other ways to partially match between these two files?
I apologize as I'm still getting used to Reddit format so the presentation of this post might be a bit poor. Also let me know if I can clarify on anything (or ask a separate question on this second part).

Thank you!