VLOOKUP with partial match

Originally Posted by question

So I would need a function which can find if there's a serial number in the column E where the first 8 digits match with the original (column B).

You can cut the right end of an arbitrary string of characters with LEFT(text_string, how_many_characters_to_keep)

F1= LEFT(E1,8) = LEFT(B1,8)

Cell F1 will check if the first 8 characters (reading from the left) of cell E1 are the same (equal to) the first 8 characters (also from the left) of B1. If they are exactly the same, TRUE. If they are different, FALSE.

If it's multiple checks, either this way or with VLOOKUP, I would myself prefer to make a table, and each cell of the table performs one check.

The problem is that the serial numbers which I want to match are not in the same row. So I need to use VLOOKUP, right? I have to check that if LEFT(B2,8) -> is in the whole list of like E$2:$E$10000 including only the first 8 characters of the list.