255 Character limit on VLOOKUP

Using excel 2003, the formula:

=VLOOKUP(D1 ,A1:B135, 2)

fails if the length of D1 exceeds 255 characters (i.e. the list has some text longer then 255 characters, D1 has the same text value, and VLOOKUP returns #VALUE!).

MATCH seems to suffer from the same character limit.

I cannot find any official confirmation of these limits, for example here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/vlookup-HP005209335.aspx

or here:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/excel-specifications-and-limits-HP005199291.aspx?CTT=3

I know that excel has a 255 limit on the length of text used in formulae, but it suggests connate should work (it does not in this case, and I am not using strings in the formula, but referencing another cell).

Can somebody confirm that these limit exist (it is always possible I am doing something else wrong)?

More importantly, does anyone know of a way around them?

Thanks

Solution 1:

You can always code your own VLOOKUP... but, as an alternative, you can compute a hash from your lookup value, and use it as a new lookup value.

Collisions may happen, but using a somewhat decent hash algorithm, like MD5, it shouldn't be a problem.

To create a hash function, you may use the ideas from https://stackoverflow.com/questions/125785/password-hash-function-for-excel-vba.

Solution 2:

Write your own lookup in VBA

Here's a start:

Function MyVL(v As Range, r As Range, os As Long) As Variant
    Dim cl As Range

    For Each cl In r.Columns(1).Cells
        If v = cl Then
            MyVL = cl.Offset(0, os - 1)
            Exit Function
        End If
    Next
End Function