The XLOOKUP function in Excel is a powerful tool for performing data lookup operations. It was introduced in Excel 2019 and allows you to quickly find information within spreadsheets without having to write complex formulas. As compared to VLOOKUP, it's much easier to use and provides more flexibility when it comes to searching for data.

XLOOKUP provides two main advantages over VLOOKUP. First, it's much faster since it only searches the column specified. Second, it allows you to search both horizontally and vertically, while VLOOKUP can only work in one direction. This makes it much easier to find the right data without having to scroll through multiple columns or rows.

In order to use XLOOKUP, you simply specify the search key, the array, and the column index. The search key is the value you're looking for, the array is the range where the search should take place, and the column index is the column number where the result should be returned. You can also specify an optional fourth argument which determines whether the search should be performed in ascending or descending order.

XLOOKUP can save you a lot of time when it comes to searching for data within Excel spreadsheets. It's much faster than other lookup functions and allows you to easily search both vertically and horizontally. By understanding how to use this powerful tool, you'll be able to simplify your data lookup process and get the results you need quickly and easily.