Question

Two nonadjacent columns, Column A and C, contain strings and Column E (again nonadjacent) should contain the duplicate strings between Column A and C.

Now my main problems is that Columns A and C are different lengths and the duplicates aren’t per se on the same row.

When not using VBA, the following input Column E gives the solution except for the blanks.

=IF(ISERROR(MATCH(A1,$C:$C,0)),"",A1)  

For example:
Column A
potatoe
tomatoe
broccoli
pepper
mushroom

Column C
mushroom
cucumber
broccoli
salt
fennel

Column E should be
mushroom
broccoli

This is what I’ve been able to find so far, but it is very wrong. I just find myself unable to breakdown the issue.

Sub Duplicates()
  Dim duplicates As Range
  Set duplicates = Columns("A", "C")
  activesheet.duplicates.Copy Destination:=activesheet.Range("E1")
End Sub

Answer 1

… Try this:

  Sub PopulateColE()

     Dim cl As Range
     Dim CurrentRow As Integer: CurrentRow = 1

     On Error Resume Next

     For Each cl In Intersect(ActiveSheet.UsedRange, ActiveSheet.Range("C:C"))
        Application.WorksheetFunction.Match cl.Value, Range("A:A"), 0

        If Err.Number = 0 Then
           Range("E" & CurrentRow).Value = cl.Value
           CurrentRow = CurrentRow + 1
        End If

        Err.Clear
     Next cl
  End Sub