DGET in WPS Spreadsheet: Retrieve One Uniquely Matching Record
Use DGET in WPS Spreadsheet with a complete database and criteria grid, field-name and position examples, and documentation-based limitations.
Verification status: See the evidence and test scope described in this guide. How formula examples are checked
Quick answer: DGET extracts the selected field from a single matching database record. With the complete worksheet below, =DGET(A1:D7,"Value",F1:F2) has independent expected result 18.
Syntax and the three required arguments
=DGET(database,field,criteria)
- database: a rectangular list including its header row. Each following row is a record; each column is a field.
- field: the header text in quotes, or the field’s one-based position within the database. In A1:D7, Value is field 3 and Note is field 4. These positions are relative to the database, not an arbitrary worksheet column number.
- criteria: a separate range containing at least one field header and a condition directly below it. Pass the range including its header, rather than the condition cell alone.
The official lesson permits both field names and positions. Names are easier to read; positional formulas must be revisited when the database’s column order changes. Keep header spelling consistent between the database and the criteria block.
Complete worksheet example
Create a fresh worksheet and enter this database in A1:D7. Leave D3 genuinely empty; the word “blank” in this table is an instruction, not text to enter. Enter the zero in D7 as a number.
| Row | A: ID | B: Group | C: Value | D: Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ID | Group | Value | Note |
| 2 | 101 | 1 | 12 | Ready |
| 3 | 102 | 1 | 18 | (leave empty) |
| 4 | 103 | 2 | 7 | Review |
| 5 | 104 | 1 | −3 | Hold |
| 6 | 105 | 2 | 0 | Ready |
| 7 | 106 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
Put ID in F1 and numeric 102 in F2. Keep this criteria block outside the database. Enter =DGET(A1:D7,"Value",F1:F2) in H2.
Set F1 to ID and F2 to 102. The sole matching record has Value 18, so the expected result is 18. Using field position 3 produces the same selection. Changing the selected field to Note and the ID to 101 instead retrieves text Ready.
To check positional selection, replace "Value" with 3. The expected result for the same criterion is unchanged. Use absolute references such as $A$1:$D$7 when copying a formula should preserve the database range, and check whether the criteria reference should remain fixed or move to another block.
Advanced use: enforce an unambiguous lookup
DGET is useful when duplicate matches must be visible rather than silently reduced to the first row. In this dataset, Group 1 matches four records. =DGET(A1:D7,"Value",F1:F2) with Group/1 criteria therefore has the documented expectation #NUM!. That is a cardinality problem, not evidence that the selected field is nonnumeric.
To refine the search, put Group in F1, ID in G1, 1 in F2 and 104 in G2. =DGET(A1:D7,"Value",F1:G2) is expected to return −3, because only ID 104 satisfies both conditions. The official WPS walkthrough specifically motivates DGET for multi-condition lookups and a unique identifier.
A unique ID is a data-quality constraint, not something DGET creates. If two records share the ID, both satisfy the criterion even when their returned values happen to be identical. Resolve the duplicate in the source data rather than assuming identical values make the match unique.
Errors, empty selections and criteria limits
The WPS lesson explicitly specifies #VALUE! when no records match and #NUM! when more than one record matches. ID/999 produces the first case in this database; Group/1 produces the second. These are documentation-based expectations, not native observations. A returned field error or an invalid field header is a separate problem whose precise error behavior is not established by this lesson.
The worked Value field contains only numbers. Text, logical values, formula-empty strings and errors mixed into that field are outside the examples; no coercion or error-propagation rule is inferred for them.
Numeric equality criteria are used deliberately. Wildcards, text prefix matching, case sensitivity, multiple criteria rows, blank criteria and calculated-condition formulas need their own product-specific evidence. Do not generalize these small examples into an unrestricted filtering-language specification. Keep the criteria range exact: accidentally including additional rows changes the expression you are asking WPS to evaluate.
Evidence, availability and compatibility
The official WPS Academy DGET lesson was published 2019-05-24 and reviewed on October 18, 2026. Its applicability field leaves the edition, platform and numeric build unspecified. The publication date is evidence of documentation by that date, not the first release. Introduction and last-supported versions remain unknown. The source does not identify this function as deprecated or retired.
These are original documentation-based examples with independent record selection and arithmetic. They were not executed in WPS. No screenshot or cross-edition execution is claimed. Check separators, localized entry and workbook interchange in the intended client before relying on them; file-format round trips were not tested.