How to find values that appear in both of two lists
✓ Verified in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 ✓ Verified in Google Sheets (2026-08-30)Compare two columns and pull out the values they have in common.
The formula
| App | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | =FILTER(A2:A6,COUNTIF(C2:C4,A2:A6)>0) | Excel 365/2021. Per-row alternative: =IF(COUNTIF($C$2:$C$4,A2)>0,"In both",""). |
| Google Sheets | =FILTER(A2:A6,COUNTIF(C2:C4,A2:A6)>0) | Identical. |
| LibreOffice Calc | =FILTER(A2:A6,COUNTIF(C2:C4,A2:A6)>0) | FILTER needs LibreOffice 24.8+; the per-row IF+COUNTIF form works in any version. |
How it works
COUNTIF(C2:C4,A2:A6) counts how many times each value from the first list appears in the second — an array of 0s and 1s — and FILTER keeps the first-list values whose count is positive. "banana" and "fig" are in both lists; "grape" is only in the second, so it doesn't appear. Swap the ranges to get the second list's matches, or use COUNTIF(...)=0 to find values in one list but NOT the other.
Verified, not just documented
We ran =FILTER(A2:A6,COUNTIF(C2:C4,A2:A6)>0) in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 (headless, with forced recalculation) and it returned banana, fig — exactly the expected result. We then ran the same formulas in Google Sheets, executed 2026-08-30: a formula-only workbook goes into Google Drive, which converts it to a Sheet and recalculates every formula with Google’s own engine, and comes back out as .xlsx carrying the values Google computed. It returned banana, fig for the worked example, the same value LibreOffice produced. Both engines’ numbers on this page are executed results. The Excel formula follows Microsoft’s official documented syntax — we do not run desktop Excel.
Functions used
FILTER · COUNTIF — see full Excel, Google Sheets & LibreOffice compatibility for each.
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