---
title: "Use the ITEM Function in Pigment to Find Matching Values"
slug: "item-function"
description: "Learn how Pigment's ITEM function searches a unique Property in a Dimension List and returns the corresponding item or BLANK."
updated: 2026-02-04T10:32:22Z
published: 2026-02-04T10:32:22Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.pigment.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# ITEM function

## Description

Searches for a value among Items in a Dimension List unique Property, and returns the corresponding Dimension List Item, or `BLANK` if none is found.

## Syntax

`ITEM(Value to Find, Dimension.'Unique Property')`

- `Value to Find` can be stored in a List Property with data type `Text`, `Number` or `Integer`.
- `Dimension.'Unique Property'` can reference any unique Property of a Dimensional List. It is possible to omit the Property name (state only the Dimension name). In that case, Pigment automatically searches in the Dimension’s [Default Property](/v1/docs/block-settings-transactions-dimension-lists#default-property).

## Return type

Same Dimension as `Dimension` parameter

## Examples

| **Case** | **Results** | **Return Type** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `ITEM("ben@corp.com", 'Employees'.'Email')` | returns "Ben P.", item of the Employee List because it matches the employee email | `Employee (Dimension)` |
| `ITEM("unknown@corp.com", 'Employees'.'Email')` | `blank` if email is not recognized in the List | `Employee (Dimension)` |
| `ITEM('Transactions'.'Product' & "_" & 'Transaction'.'Packaging', 'SKU'.Id)` | for each row of the `Transaction` List, concatenates `Product` and `Packaging` and looks for the corresponding Item in the `SKU` list. | `SKU (Dimension)` |

> [!NOTE]
> If you need a more permissive version of this function, such as a lookup function on non unique values/expressions, refer to the [MATCH](/v1/docs/match-function) function.

**Excel equivalent**: none

**See also**: [TIMEDIM](/v1/docs/timedim-function-dimensional), [MATCH](/v1/docs/match-function)