Excel column references (instead of value)

Question

I am searching for a way to obtain column-references in Excel.

I would like to search through a row (B12:G12) and look for the highest number. That could be done with the MAX-formula. But instead of the value, I would like to get the column reference of that cell, like B, C, D, E, F, G. Is there a way to do that? I already tried the Address-/ and Index-formula, but that didn't work.

Thanks a lot and greetings!

Answer 1

This will tell you what Column Index has the max value inside the array.

=MATCH(MAX(B12:G12),B12:G12)

Note the index here starts at B = 1, C = 2, etc. so if you want the actual column index (i.e. such that A = 1) then just add 1 to the end of the equation

---

You can also output the actual column letter reference by associating the value to the CHAR index with

=CHAR(MATCH(MAX(B12:G12),B12:G12)+65)

---