How can I tell if an element in a list is included in another list? (in openoffice calc)

Question

How can I tell if an element in a list is included in another list? (in openoffice calc). I have a list of books in our library and a list of books that were banned and I want to find the books we have, for banned book week.

Answer 1

You could try this: =COUNTIF(C$2:C$5;A2) in cell B2, this checks the banned list (C$2:C$5) against the first item (A2). By putting $ signs in front of the row numbers, the banned list will reference will remain at C2:C5, otherwise the banned list would "move down" when you copy the formula from Cell B2 down to B3....all the way down. The formula in cell B3 would look like this: =COUNTIF(C$2:C$5;A3). The banned list stays the same but cell B3 now checks the banned list against the data in Cell A3.